


There Goes the...Underground?

by AquaRock



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-09 02:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 84,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaRock/pseuds/AquaRock
Summary: To a local hood rat, "underground" was a modifier of hip hop music. He is at a time where his morality is fading away, leading a life of crime in the city. His "friends" don't really support him, he is without a father figure, and his mother drunkenly resents him. Who would have known these circumstances would lead to a legendary undertaking?





	1. The Saga Begins

_"Come on, man, one shot'll do 'er in," a delinquent coaxed._  
  
_The smell of whisky was pungent in the kitchen._  
  
_"Mama, wus goin' on?" asked the youth in uncertainty._  
  
_A glass bottle shattered. Her eyes were glazed with fury. The bottle struck his head._  
  
_"It's yo' fault he got the axe!" she shouted._  
  
_Dishes fell off the table as the youth shoved his mother in retaliation. Her head slammed onto the floor, knocking her out._  
  
_He cocked the weapon in his trembling hands. He aimed the gun at her head, telling himself to do it, but the drive to complete the act was swiftly depleting. At the consideration of what he had done earlier, he pocketed the gun and absconded._  
  
_The sirens in the distance were harbingers of increased danger._  
  
_Lights. He needed to avoid the city lights._  
  
_He escaped the urban jungle and entered the nearest forest. In his panicked state, he stumbled on a tree root. He fell into a ravine, terror in the pit of his stomach. He screamed as if it would save him from the everlasting blackness of death._  
  
_And yet...the youth felt a peculiar sensation of serenity. Where was he? Had he ended up in heaven? No...the thought seemed ridiculous. After what he attempted and the life he had been living, heaven was out of his grasp now.  
  
_ The youth opened his eyes and witnessed bright light cascading from what was above him. He squinted at the sudden brightness. He felt himself lying on his back, his body in a soothingly soft mass. He lifted his torso and surveyed his surroundings. He was lying on his back in a bed of flowers as yellow as the risen sun.   
  
_Just ta be sure..._  
  
He pressed two fingers against his neck, feeling a beating pulse. Yep, he was still alive. He was also thoroughly unhurt, apart from the wound on his forehead. He figured the scar would simply fit in with the others.  
  
He arose and dusted off his clothes and took another look around. The flower bed was embedded into a small patch of grass in the middle of what seemed to be a room of some sort. On his left, he found a hallway. He remembered falling down here. He looked up, trying to see from where he had fallen. It was quite a distance from what he could see, and the walls around him were too steep to ascend. The youth had nowhere to go but down the hallway. Old habits kicking in, he secured the .45 caliber pistol in his waistband and crept throughout the hallway, his sneakers silently stepping on the cement floor.   
  
The youth pinned his back against the wall when he approached the corner. He was unsure who, or what, would be waiting for him up ahead. He lifted the hem of his jacket and extracted the pistol from his waistband. He checked the magazine. No bullets remained.  
  
_"One bullet left? That's all you need, brotha. One ta the wig, and we get outta here...."_  
  
He shook the memory out of his mind and reassembled the magazine with the gun, reconcealing it. Just because _he_ knew he was empty didn't mean everybody else in heaven-knows-where-he-was did. He discreetly peeked around the corner. He guessed it was another one of those sunflowers he had landed on earlier, bathed in a column of light, and separate from everything else. He exhaled in relief and chuckled to himself as he entered the room. There was no reason to act all "sheisty" because of one flower.  
  
"Howdy!" a friendly voice said somewhere. The youth's eyes widened as he cocked his head left and right, crouching. As far as he saw, there was nobody in there, and nothing of interest in the room. He had an inkling that it was... _Nah, nah, I'm just trippin'...._  
  
"Down here!" called the friendly voice again. _Down here?_ The youth was short, only about 5'2" the last time he checked, so the probability of finding someone shorter than him wasn't too likely. The voice sounded as if it was from a kid, but there was none of the sort. By process of elimination, he looked down at the patch of grass at his feet. The flower he eyed earlier had a... _A FACE?!  
  
_ "I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"  
  
_Aw, naw! Aw, NAW!_ The youth incredulously watched the flower's face crack into a jovial smile, which in turn made him create a mortified expression, trepidation held within his brown eyes.   
  
"What is happenin'?" he asked himself, his voice shaky. A hand glided across his forehead, feeling the fresh wound.   
  
"Hmm...you're new to the underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused!"   
  
_Don't talk to the flowa, don't talk to the flowa, dis all jest a bad dream...._ However, the flower couldn't be any more correct. Instead of his consistent attitude of thuggishness and impudence, he was utterly perplexed at his plight.  
  
"Someone oughta teach you how things work around here!" exclaimed the flower. Instinct. The youth bent his legs defensively and balled up his fists. Where he was from, something like that meant either getting curb-stomped, robbed, or killed. He blinked a bit as he pondered how ridiculous he looked, being defensive around a flower. So what if it talked? And if the flower supposedly COULD present danger, he'd simply wake up from this infernal nightmare.  
  
"I guess little old me will have to do! Ready?"  
  
The youth still wouldn't talk to the flower, but kept staring at him.  _It,_ he thought. _A flowa ain't got a soul.  
  
_ "Here we go!" Suddenly, the area around them got a bit darker, and the flower became brighter in the light.   
  
"Here in the underground, we place a lot of value in souls, the very culmination of one's being. Your soul starts off weak, but it can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV," said the flower. It seemed to anticipate the youth's baffled countenance, as it went on, "What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you?"  
  
That's where the youth crossed the line. "Slow ya roll. G's don't get no love," he spoke finally, rebellion tinged in his voice. He crossed his arms and glared at the flower. This charade had gone on for long enough.   
  
The flower wasn't perturbed. "Aww, you sound like you could use a little bit of LOVE. Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"  
  
Somehow, the youth wasn't convinced. How could a flower "love" anything? Sure, it could talk, but does that mean anything with a mouth can love? And what did the flower expect him to do, "love" back?   
  
"Down here, LOVE is shared through...." A few white dots emerged from the flower, floating around it, "little white...friendliness pellets."  
  
The way it said "friendliness pellets" seemed more suspicious than an altruistic politician. Nevertheless, the "friendliness pellets" seemed harmless. They were probably just seeds, considering the source was a flower.   
  
"Are you ready?" The seeds started moving toward the youth. "Move around! Catch as many as you can!"  
  
_Psh, this shouldn't be too hard,_ thought the youth as he unfolded his arms. He reached toward the nearest one and clasped his fingers around it. When he touched it, he felt the entire world shake. A fire raged in his body-no, his soul. Not one from the warm gentleness of camaraderie or friendship, but one that had cast an overwhelming sensation of despondence and forlornness. The pain he felt was in nowise physical; he'd been in one too many fistfights to mistake it. No, the agony had affected the very core of his being, with every part of his body erupting in aches.  
  
The youth was brought down, kneeling and keeping balance with an arm. He was losing his grasp on life by the second. His body quavering, he looked at the flower who betrayed him.   
  
_What? Dis flowa over here CHEESIN' IT!?_  
  
It was true. The courteous smile the flower had once worn transformed into one of pure malice. At this point, the youth knew that it had planned this from the beginning.  
  
"You IDIOT," taunted the flower, its voice warped in frenzied sadism. "In this world, it's KILL or BE killed." _Doesn't sound too different from the hood,_ the youth thought in spite of his looming demise. "Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?!"  
  
More "friendliness pellets" gathered around the youth, infinitely more so than the previous ones. There was no escaping it. He'd die here, where nobody knew or cared where or who he was. He couldn't even imagine how it would feel if MULTIPLE seeds hit him at the same time. His only solace was that it'd be over soon....  
  
" **Die.** "   
  
The pellets slowly advanced toward the youth. The swiftly turning instruments of death cast a gloomy certainty on him, yet they were somewhat mesmerizing. He looked dead at the cackling flower of evil, using the last of his strength to produce a defiant stare. He would make sure his killer was the last thing he would see....  
  
Suddenly, he regained his full strength, which startled him. The pellets weren't around him anymore. The flower's expression mirrored his. He heard a flame combust from his right. The next second, a fireball hit the flower right on the stem, the demon flying from the ground. The youth turned his head to view his savior.  
  
The person (although the term was a stretch) looked like a tall, white goat dressed in a blue robe with some funky design on it, the top part looking like a Golden Snitch. The goat looked at him with a motherly sense of pity, something the youth hadn't witnessed in a long time....  
  
"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth...." After hearing her modulated, slightly higher voice, the youth discerned that the goat was a female, about his mom's age. The resemblance to a genuine mother the goat possessed was uncanny...and unprecedented, as far as the youth knew.  
  
With the recovered strength, he rose to his feet. He was still reveling in the fact that he had been on the brink of death, and yet here he was feeling just as fine as he was before he met "Flowey."   
  
And yet, he still felt apprehensive toward the new entity. First a talking flower, then a talking goat? He would have loved to chalk this up as a convoluted nightmare, but the experience he just had confirmed with conviction that pinching himself would get him nowhere.   
  
He shot a cynical stare at the goat lady. There was a loving look in her eyes.  
  
"Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down."  
  
"Toriel, huh?" spoke the youth, his eyes darting to the grass patch. "Well, good lookin' out. Guess if you ain't stepped in when ya did, I woulda got clapped."  
  
Her eyebrows furrowed, but the disarming smile remained, as if she didn't understand his street lingo, but didn't want to seem rude.   
  
"You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way." Toriel stretched an arm in the direction of a dimly lit doorway. The youth stretched his legs and back before following her. He certainly didn't need a tour guide telling him what was up with this place. He already knew what was wrong: the population seemed to consist of murderous flowers and goats who treated him as if he was five years old.   
  
After traversing up a staircase, the youth was directed to a room with raised platforms in the right side of the floor. Toriel stood with her hands folded, waiting patiently.   
  
"Welcome to your new home, innocent one."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up," protested the youth, shaking his hands in denial. _First of all, I ain't in no way innocent_. But he nixed saying that. "'New home?' You mistaken if you think I'mma stay here. If that flowa is an example of what otha people is like 'round here, I'm takin' the next train...." He stopped to consider his words. Strange environment, murderous creatures, a constant sense of danger...this place was just like home! And he had a clean slate here, which was more than what he could say for his life in the surface. The five-o should have been cracking down on his crimes by that point, and showing his face in the streets wouldn't do him any good. If he stayed here for a while and lost all the heat he got, and THEN got out, he may be able to run scot-free. A devilish smile played across his lips at his new master plan.  
  
Meanwhile, Toriel raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What is a train?"   
  
_Oh, heaven, have mercy....  
  
_ "Uh...neva mind," said the youth, waving a hand dismissively.  _What she ain't know won't hurt 'er.  
  
_ Toriel blinked at him before continuing on. "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins." _Soundin' real teacha-like._ The goat lady walked on all but two platforms on the ground and pulled a switch near the exit. The double doors in front of them opened instantly. The youth noticed that the door had the same design as what was on Toriel's robe. _Oh, naw,_ he abruptly thought. _Don't tell me she part of a cult. It'd fit right in wit the rest a' the weirdos I seen 'round the city._  
  
"The ruins are full of puzzles, ancient fusions and diversions between doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."  
  
"Fan-freakin'-tastic. May as well dress me in an orange jumpsuit and gimme a strange-lookin' gun."  
  
"Whatever do you mean?" asked the goat lady. The youth forgot that references to anything from the surface would have adverse effects when made to...whatever these creatures were.   
  
"Jest thinkin' out loud," he explained quickly. She nodded in comprehension. As the two exited, the youth noticed a sign beside the doorway, which read, "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road." _Yep. She in a cult.  
  
_ In the next room, Toriel allowed him to pull a few switches in order to deactivate spikes blocking the next entrance. With an eyebrow raised in impatience, he turned to the goat lady.  
  
"Splendid! I am proud of you, little one."  
  
Somewhat offended, the youth retorted, "Come on, I ain't THAT li'l! I'm 15!"   
  
She seemed to ignore his remark as she led him to the next room. The hall turned left, and there was a practice dummy standing in the middle of the room.   
  
"As a human living in the underground, monsters may attack you."  
  
"No kiddin'."  
  
"You will need to be prepared for this situation."  
  
"Uh, I know streetfightin'. Will that suffice?"  
  
"No, no!" Toriel answered quickly. "That won't be necessary. When you encounter a monster, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, and I will resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy over here."  
  
Did this goat lady fail a 730 test? The youth saw her and the training instrument there, but he was still trying to figure out which one was the dummy!   
  
He approached the dummy pensively, trying to give Toriel time to say "I'm kidding!" But she merely stared at him expectantly, the warm smile still plastered on her countenance.   
  
_Friendly convasation, huh? May as well keep dis short._  
  
"Wusgood?" he asked the dummy. In the back of his mind, he imagined the dummy suddenly sprouting eyes and launching a reprisal against non-dummies after a life of getting slapped around. But the youth had no such luck. The dummy remained inanimate, which was the only normal thing that had happened to him today.   
  
Toriel, for some reason, looked extremely pleased with him. The youth felt as if he had done something right, but he couldn't really pinpoint what he did.  
  
"Very good!" she commended. "You are very good." This left the youth perplexed. With every room they passed through, she only seemed to get crazier. The inundation of compliments and encouragement was also a bit of a culture shock.   
  
When they entered the next room, Toriel went on to explain, "There is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if you can solve it."  
  
"That's anotha thang. Why you got all deez puzzles lyin' around?"  
  
She chuckled. "When the humans had banished us monsters, we first took refuge in the ruins. It wasn't much, but it was home for us. In fact, our king literally named the ruins 'Home.'"  
  
_A history lesson throughout this place? This ain't Uncharted, bruh._  
  
"And the puzzles were meant ta keep people out?"  
  
"Well, that was the theory he had put out. But, knowing him," Toriel's expression darkened slightly, "he did it on a whim."  
  
_Whoa. Touchy subject. Best not ta ask any furtha._  
  
They progressed throughout the stony hallway, no sounds heard, save their footsteps and the hollow howl of air moving through the area. The youth jumped when he heard something similar to a frog's croak behind him. Toriel hadn't noticed anything and kept walking, while he stayed behind. _Don't need no more monstas sneakin' up on me...._  
  
Leaping from the shadows was an overgrown frog, its eyes devoid of expression. The area around it and the youth darkened, just like in the encounter with Flowey, so that the frog was the youth's main focus.   
  
However, this creature didn't seem to talk, which made it appear less threatening. Nevertheless, the youth was on his guard.   
  
_"Strike up a friendly convasation." Heh. Now_ I _cain't pass a 730 test._  
  
"Wus happenin', frog?" he said with a forced lopsided grin. The expression faded out after a while as he doubted the effectiveness of the amiable greeting. He wasn't this friendly in YEARS. In the city, friendliness would merely gain glances of suspicion rather than a reciprocated gesture.  
  
Maybe he was certainly spiraling into insanity, but he noticed that the frog blinked thoughtfully at his response. It was obvious that it didn't speak, but could it understand him?  
  
Just then, Toriel approached them and stared daggers into the frog, which froze in its place. It lowered its head and meekly shied away from the youth. This only raised more questions. Why was the frog so afraid of her? Did she have magic in her eyes that compelled opponents to flee? He'd be convinced of that; oldgirl was downright fearsome with that stare of hers.   
  
_I feel ya, frog dude._  
  
The pair reached a corridor where a spiked bridge stood in the middle of a waterway. Now _this_ seemed like a puzzle intended to keep people out, instead of waste their time. He stared at Toriel, expectant of an explanation.  
  
"This is the puzzle, but..." She held out a hand. "Here, take my hand for a moment."  
  
Repulsion etched across the youth's face, but he did it anyway. He figured that the goat lady could be trusted; she got him out of two potential scraps since his fall down here. But her continued babying was pushing him over the edge. If only the boys in the hood could see him now....Reluctantly, he grasped her wrist and looked away from her. His dark complexion concealed the blood rushing to his face.  
  
Toriel led him throughout the puzzle, the spikes descending and clearing a path for them. She snaked left and right, which the youth figured was the specific pattern to take if one didn't want to get Swiss cheesed. He certainly wasn't complaining when they traversed the puzzle unscathed.  
  
"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now," she commented before progressing.  
  
"Cain't be any more dangerous than a talkin' flowa."   
  
The hallway they were in now had nothing special about it; it was a lengthy passageway void of any special features, traps, or puzzles.  
  
"You have done excellently thus far, my child. However..." a twinge of guilt manifest in her expression, "I have a difficult request to ask of you." She gulped. "I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself. Forgive me for this."  
  
She about-faced and moved to the end of the hallway with daunting speed. In his years as a hooligan, the youth had never seen anybody run that fast, with or without cops chasing them. The most surprising thing about it was that she still looked as though she was walking in her usually calm manner. First fire magic, then a death stare, then powerwalking that would put fitness nuts to shame? This Toriel character was simply full of surprises.   
  
But what was the point in leaving him here? Was this supposed to be a test? _Real sus._ Regardless, the youth began his long walk to the end. Nothing had caught his interest until he noticed a solitary white column on his left. He scowled at it; it was the only hiding place Toriel could have chosen inside that room.   
  
"Gee, I wonda where she might be hidin'," he sarcastically muttered. Toriel's head poked from the side of the column until the rest of her emerged from it. "What was the point a' doin' that?" Never mind the quick speed at which she glided across the floor.  
  
"It was a trust exercise, as well as an independence test. Now that I know you don't feel threatened when you're by yourself, I can attend to some business. Please remain here, for it is dangerous to explore alone."  
  
Toriel turned toward the exit and suddenly stopped, as if she'd forgotten something. She patted the sides of her robe and pulled out a strange-looking object.  
  
"I'll also provide you a cell phone, in case you need anything," she said, giving him the ancient device. On the surface, it had been a long time since phones with antennas were even used. It was more surprising that there was reception down here. "If you need anything, just call." Toriel turned toward the exit, stopped, and turned her head. "Be good, all right?" There was a slight reluctance in her tone and eyes before she left. The youth was left in silence.  
  
So, she needed him to chill there while she ran some errands? He could do that. The area seemed devoid of monsters and traps. The serene silence should have stabilized his psyche with peace. However, all he felt was boredom and impatience, which allowed diverse scenarios to play in his head. For all he knew, the goat lady was on her way to get a bunch of other monsters to jump him. He'd be lying if he said he didn't trust the monster at all, but he was well aware that he'd only known her for around 15 minutes.   
  
In fact, why _did_ she save him? What good would it have done her? Sure, she painfully adhered to the "sticking up for the innocent child" shtick, but he knew nobody who would save a complete stranger. Things just didn't happen that way.   
  
Where exactly was she taking him before she bounced? A stranger like her could have easily taken advantage of his unfamiliarity with the locale. Although he doubted it was possible, the goat lady could very well have been taking him to a place worse than one where he'd encounter "Flowey" again!   
  
He'd concede that he was fronting like a mug throughout their entire exchange from the beginning. If she hadn't saved him, he wouldn't have given her a second thought and kept searching for a way out of here. He didn't know how to feel or show gratitude for someone who had saved his life. He'd figured that not giving her lip would be critical, even though he struggled in that department.   
  
He couldn't place his finger on why he was so bothered that somebody acted so benevolently toward him. He'd guess that he just wasn't used to being saved by a tall, talking goat lady who had maternal attributes to which he was not accustomed. But no matter how much he'd tell himself that, there was another possibility looming in the recesses of his awareness. Could it be that he had recovered his long-absent- _Nah,_ he denied, shaking his head. _I done lost that a long time ago. Don't do nothin' but hold ya back.  
  
_ The interim of nothingness held no benefits for the youth's calmness. He remembered what he had set out to do. "'Please remain here,' huh? How 'bout I don't?" He could do business all on his own, which he was more apt to address as "bidness." He shoved the phone in his lower pocket and marched through the doorway.   
  
The new area immediately curved to the right, and a rather stoic-looking frog remained stationary near the left wall. It looked at him and paid him slight interest. A flood of relief coursed through the youth when he didn't see the area get dark around him again, which meant it didn't want beef. He froze up when he heard the phone ring not five seconds after he passed through the doorway. As expected, the ringtone sounded like a chiptune coming from his pocket.   
  
Deciding it'd be best to answer, he picked it up and pressed the answer key. "Yeah."  
  
"Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?" The youth hoped his gulp wasn't as audible on the other end. _She knows somethin'. Might be anotha one a' them tests._ "There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself."  
  
"Ain't you test my independence a minute ago?" he spoke without thinking.   
  
There was a long silence.  
  
"Be good, all right?" The phone clicked. The youth felt a twinge of guilt- _Indigestion,_ he corrected himself, there was no reason for feel bad for anything-after hearing how the goat lady made that last request. Her voice had caught in her throat as if she knew something that he didn't.   
  
After shoving the phone back in his pocket, he took another step before he was interrupted again. He heard a thoughtful croak on his left, coming from the large frog he noticed earlier. With the croak came a message that the youth could interpret telepathically.  
  
_"Excuse me, human. I have some advice for you about battling monsters."_ The phenomenon left him intrigued, and since the frog didn't try to kill him, he listened intently. _"If you act a certain way or fight until you almost defeat them, they might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please, use some mercy, human."_ The frog concluded its thoughts with a final croak.   
  
He considered the frog's counsel. He was NOT going to take punishment from these monsters sitting down, you could trust THAT. But he didn't realize that monsters may either feel bad about pounding somebody or would know their own limits about their strength. If monsters could do that down here, what did that say about the humans up there?  
  
But, he let his mind wander for too long and tried to shake the thoughts out of his head. There was simply no way he was developing a con...a con....The youth could barely think the word without feeling the urge to vomit. _Jest slows ya down,_ he repeated to himself.  
  
Ah, he found something with which to distract himself. A pile of leaves lay in front of him, looking as tempting as a plate full of gold. But while one appealed to his carnal, avaricious senses, the former connected to a long-abandoned youthful playfulness in his spirit. He looked around for any monsters who might be watching. He only found the wise frog who talked with him earlier. _Ah, screw it._  
  
With a bit of a running start, he dived into the leaves, crinkling them as he rolled around to lie on his back. He stared at the cement ceiling and grinned, his head resting on his hands. He'd heard of kids doing this in areas where people had lawns, but he had no such luxury. He didn't think he was missing much until he actually tried it. He crossed the activity off in his mental bucket list.   
  
As well as a giddy childishness, he felt another emotion becoming dominant. All of a sudden, he made a conscious decision that he would reach his goal, whatever it was at this point, no matter the circumstances. No monster was going to deter him from doing what he needed to do. Though the sense of uncertainty became more manifest, which caused him to think of this sudden wave of emotion as blind ambition, he felt encouragement...no... _determination._  
  
He rose from the leaves, wondering what was special about them. His eyes widened when he discovered that there was a room behind the frog that talked to him earlier, the youth wondering how he could have missed it. He peeked inside and saw a bowl full of candy sitting atop a small white column.  
  
_It mus' be spiked wit somethin'. But if otha monstas come down here, why would they try ta poison themselves?_ He approached the bowl and read the sign underneath: "Take one." He didn't know if the candy'd be good, so he complied. He wasn't hungry just then, but he recalled how candy could be clutch if his blood sugar became low; he stuck the candy in his pocket.  
  
After exiting, he tiptoed to a corner in the hallway, which curved left. He stopped at the corner and tentatively peeked around the corner. Another frog was hopping close by, its back facing him, but the youth held his breath. Of the two huge frogs he met underground, one of them was beefing, and the other gave advice. He was unsure which trait would be dominant in specimens yet to be encountered, so he took a few meticulous steps from the corner to see what happened.   
  
The frog turned its head before squaring up (as well as a frog could do, at least) to him. The immediate area went dark around the youth once more. _Ugh, not again,_ he thought before spacing his legs shoulder width apart and balling his fists.  
  
The creature was in nowise menacing, and it didn't even reach the youth's knee. Fighting it wouldn't exactly have a purpose, would it? If anything, it'd be a waste of time.   
  
"Look, I don't want no trouble," he said passively. _Could it understand me?_ The frog, and-what _was_ that creature standing under it?-blinked at the youth as if comprehending his relatively peaceful statement.  
  
White flies sprung from the ground and reached to about his chest's height. It took him no time to discern them as projectiles coming for his soul. Better prepared, he weaved out of their path, and the flies passed by him harmlessly.   
  
The projectiles were gone as quickly as they appeared. Impressed with his bullet-dodging skills, the youth's mouth pulled back in another lopsided grin. "Y'ain't hittin' me, homie."  
  
What little drive to hurt the youth was absent in the frog's expression. _Jest like that? All I gotta do is dodge they bullets, and they done wit me? This could be easia than I thought._  
  
"We cool now?" he asked, unable to hide the surprise in his tone. The frog merely walked away from him. He raised a quizzical eyebrow. Was this frog going to let him pass without problems?   
  
One step. Another step. The youth kept his eyes locked on the frog, which didn't turn back. He was over the threshold and into the next room without provoking any more attacks from the creature. He couldn't hold in his triumphant laugh when it was all clear.   
  
The youth hopped over weak-looking flooring in the next hall and advanced to the next room. The floor ahead was filled with spikes, preceded by a boulder behind a platform. _Test a' strength, maybe?_  
  
The chiptune tone emanated from his pocket again. He answered the phone.   
  
"Hello? This is Toriel. For no reason in particular...." The youth could feel her eyes shifting left and right. "Which do you prefer? Cinnamon, or butterscotch?"  
  
_No reason, huh? Guess I'll play along._  
  
"Uh, cinnamon."   
  
"Oh, I see. Thank you very much!" she said cheerfully. The phone clicked. The youth didn't take two steps before the phone rang again.  
  
"Hello? This is Toriel. You do not DISLIKE butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but...would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?"  
  
The way she treated such a trivial matter with such painstaking precision was actually charming to him. He chuckled, "It's whateva."  
  
A pause. He forgot that she hadn't heard him laugh. "Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way." Click. _Gulp._ Why was it that he kept feeling...weird when Toriel reminded him of her request? He'd reminded her of his passing of the independence test. He'd made it obvious that he was out of the room, he thought. She didn't _technically_ say to go back to that one room. As far as he was concerned, he was still all good. So why was he troubled to any degree?  
  
He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and the boulder until it sat atop the platform, the spikes sinking back into the ground. As soon as he traversed over the line of spikes, he noticed his surroundings darken. A ghost with wings hovered in front of him, its eyes closed in what the human guessed was sorrow. Again, he didn't feel threatened by the monster, so he nixed fighting it.   
  
What could he say to this monster? "Uh...."  
  
It didn't concern him anymore when the ghost sobbed and flew away from him. _'Kay, guess I'll keep movin'._  
  
He faced more weak flooring in the next room, which led him to walk lightly on the precarious ground. A heavy step caused the floor to give way, and the youth felt the sinking feeling in his stomach as he plunged to the level below. He felt his heart pounding against another pile of leaves. Unhurt, he dusted them off his clothes and ascended back to where he was.  
  
After shooing away a ghost, witnessing a spider bake sale, and another call from Toriel, he met another frog, which stated that it saw Toriel around. Even more interesting was that it said everyone was too intimidated by her to talk to her. _Maybe there's more ta dis goat lady than meets the eye. Betta watch myself._ The youth figured he must have been close. He eventually saw a bare tree with all the leaves surrounding the trunk.    
  
"Oh, dear, that took longer than I thought it would," he heard her say. She approached the tree and got out her phone, attempting to reach him before she saw him behind the tree. She approached him and searched him up and down for wounds he'd sustained since last they met.    
  
"How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?" The injuries he felt were minor, but nothing life-threatening. Not all monsters were as willing to let him walk freely as a depressed ghost or a frog. His bodycount (down here) was zero, which seemed necessary for survival down here. "There, there, I will heal you." She used a sort of green magic with her hands to close up the wounds caused by the underground monsters, but he gnashed his teeth when he recalled the scars from the monsters above the surface....  
  
"I should not have left you alone like that," she said with resentment.  
  
"Ay, but did I die, though?" He stared at her with a raised eyebrow.   
  
"You could have," she whispered, then cleared her throat. "Anyway, I welcome you to my home."   
  
Beyond the tree stood a tidy-looking small house that competed with the architecture of the surface. For living in underground ruins, the youth thought, Toriel was doing all right for herself. He followed her into the front door.  
  
The first thing he noticed was the sweet, nostalgic scent emanating from his left. Now he knew why she asked about the cinnamon and butterscotch. He closed his eyes and took in the smell.   
  
"Do you smell that?"  
  
"Betta believe it," he grinned, a genuine smile this time. "I'm smellin' the cinnamon...but there's somethin' else in it...."  
  
"Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here, so I'll hold off on snail pie for tonight."  
  
_Live here? Slow ya roll, lady. You merely gave me a place ta crash._ Sure, the place was nice, and he had a means of sustenance, but this maternal monster would only cramp his style. If he _did_ stay here, he predicted that there would be curfews, rules, and manners to which he had to adhere. Doing something like that would be like using his hands to stop a rushing river.  
  
_Also,_ snail _pie?_  
  
"Here, I have another surprise for you." They began walking across the hall on the right. Toriel stopped in front of a closed bedroom door. "A room of your own. I hope you like it!" She rustled his hair as if to complete the parental archetype. The youth slowly tilted his head, squinting in disbelief.   
  
Toriel jumped when she saw his reaction and said, "Is something burning? Um, make yourself at home!" She bounced, practically leaving tire marks on the wooden floor.   
  
While she was gone, the youth investigated the rest of the hallway. The only object of interest was the large mirror on the end. He saw his somewhat slender, scowling face. Cynicism was embedded in his brown eyes, which snapped to the diagonal scar on his forehead. It possessed a dark red shade and was already beginning to scab over. Aside from that, he still looked very much normal.  
  
For no reason at all, he smiled at his reflection. He looked even more intimidating with the forced smile than he did with the scowl. _Such is the fate of a gangsta._  
  
A yawn. A stretch. He checked the time on the cell phone. It was a couple of minutes past 1 A.M. He must not have been out for too long when he fell into this godforsaken underground, which explained his fatigue. Continuing onward out of the ruins would have to come later.  
  
He opened the door to his new bedroom. It wasn't anything spectacular; it just had a standing closet (from which he snagged a backpack for later), a box full of kids' shoes, and a shelf with other miscellaneous items, along with the necessary bed. He took off his shoes, turned off the light, and lay on the bed facing upward, his head in his palms, and his gun under the pillow.  
  
It was here when he was plagued with questions about the next day. _Add that ta the list a' thangs I ain't used to._  What would he see? Whom would he see? What would he have to do in the near future? Most importantly, when would he get out of here? The inquiries ran through his mind a mile a minute, but in place of anxiety, they filled him with a childish curiosity. When monsters weren't trying to kill him, the place wasn't so bad. At the very least, he'd have something to tell the boys back home.

  
_I'mma be okay,_ he deduced before closing his eyes. 

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?:_**

_"You naive child....If you leave the ruins...they...ASGORE, will kill you."_

_"I been in the streets too long ta be killed that easily!"  
  
"Do **not** forget what happened when you first came here, child." _

**_.     .     ._ **

_"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive."_

**_.     .     ._ **

_"Please, understand--"  
  
"Undastand what?! That I cain't trust nobody I find down here?!_

**_.     .     ._ **

_"If you think I'mma letchu win, afta whatchu tried ta do, you got anotha thang comin' ta you."_


	2. WorldStar!

_"Ay, Manny. Why you strappin'?"_  
  
_The delinquent stashed the pistol in his pocket. "Mira, hermano, there might be some places where you can resolve conflict peacefully. But you and I were both born in the wrong place for that. You like staying alive, no?"_  
  
_"Uh, yeah?"_  
  
_The delinquent tossed another pistol to the youth, who fumbled with it before catching it. "Then es necesario you keep that." He shot the youth a dark look. "Think about it. Would you rather have someone else die, or have that fate come upon us?"_  
  
_The youth knew how to hold one. He knew how to shoot one. He knew how much power it gave someone to hurt people._  
  
_But he didn't know what keeping it would tempt him to do oh, so much later...._  
  
Sweetness. The entire room was filled with a sugary aura: cinnamon, accompanied by butterscotch.   
  
The youth's eyes shot open. He saw an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. The bed he lay upon had no springs protruding from it. The room he was in was vast. Then the memories came back to him.   
  
_Killa flowas, talkin' goats, cinnamon and buttascotch pie....So it_ wasn't _all a dream._  
  
He noticed the plate of pie sitting on the floor as he stretched from his slumber. Curiously, he took a bite. His teeth tingled from having something so sweet this early in the morning. You could say what you want about Toriel, but you couldn't deny that the lady could cook.   
  
He brushed his teeth and walked to the kitchen, greeting a reading Toriel on the way.   
  
"Up already, I see?" she answered. He peeked at his phone: 9:40 A.M. "Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here."  
  
"The least I could do for you afta savin' me. Thanks for lettin' me crash here," he called as he poked through the kitchen cabinets. "Ay, you got any plastic bags? I'm savin' the rest a' that pie slice for the road."  
  
A pause. "You're not thinking of leaving, are you?"  
  
Caution filled his veins. "Yeah?"  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Ain't it obvious?" He poked his head through the doorway. "I'm goin' back home."  
  
Her jaw clenched. "This...this IS your home now."  
  
He scoffed. "Me, live in a place like this? This place is...." He didn't want to be _too_ rude to her. "This place is aight, I guess, but it ain't New York. I'm already missin' the chaos from the surface. 'Sides, this ain't the place for someone like me." _There they are,_ he thought as he found a bag for his pie and stuffed it in his backpack. He re-entered the living room. "What, is there somethin' I need ta know 'fore I leave?"  
  
Toriel gulped before her eyes darted to her novel. "Um...would you like to hear about this book I'm reading?" He opened his mouth in protest, but she quickly went on, "It is called 72 Uses for Snails. How about it?"  
  
His brows furrowed in slight annoyance. "I could care less 'bout snails. Why you avoidin' the question, Toriel? Is there somethin' I need ta know 'fore I head out?"  
  
She still ignored him. "Did you know that snails have a chainsaw-like tongue called a radula?"  
  
Did she just become hard of hearing all of a sudden? Or was she still trying to delude him? He leaned on the living room table, his gaze piercing into hers. "Toriel. You and I both know you tryna hide somethin'. No amount a' snail trivia gon' change that. If you don't wanna tell me anythang, I'mma be on my way."  
  
She took her reading glasses off and dropped them and the book on the seat. "Excuse me, I have to do something. Stay here." The last two words held a hint of foreboding as she dashed out of the living room. The room was silent except for the magical fire crackling in the fireplace.  
  
_What's she supposed ta do right as I mentioned gettin' outta here?_ Then something clicked in his mind. _Aw, naw!_ He tightly grasped the backpack before giving chase.   
  
He saw the top of her head sinking down the staircase. He leapt over the railing and landed in the staircase's lower level. He only stopped when he saw Toriel momentarily motionless in the long hallway.   
  
"Whatchu tryna do, Toriel?" He couldn't mask the darkness in his tone.   
  
"You wish to return home, do you not? Ahead of us lies the end of the ruins, a one-way exit to the rest of the underground." Her cheerfulness wasn't changed when she continued, "I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be a good child and go upstairs." She powerwalked further, never turning back to face him. The youth felt strain in his calves as he tried to keep up.  
  
"If you think I'mma stay here for game, you playin' ya self! Why you tryna trap me in here?!" Luckily, the inquiry got her to stop again.  
  
"Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child....If you leave the ruins...they...ASGORE, will kill you."  
  
"I been in the streets too long ta be killed that easily!"  
  
"Do **not** forget what happened when you first came here, child." By then, the youth was glad he couldn't see her face, which must have been unimaginably lethal. "I am only protecting you, do you understand? Go. To. Your room."  
  
"What could be so bad 'bout dis Asgore that you'd keep me down here till I rot? That almost seems worse than what oldboy could do!" Granted, he knew nothing about Asgore.  
  
Toriel stopped at a corner. "Do not try to stop me. This is your final warning."  
  
Of course, the youth followed. A myriad of questions ran through his mind at once. Who did this goat lady think she was? Why would this be the only way to protect him? Did she not care if he returned to life as he knew it?   
  
_Did she care about what_ he _wanted?!_  
  
The pair were surrounded by purple walls, one possessing a door bearing the same symbol on Toriel's robe. She stared at the door while he marched behind her.  
  
"You want to leave so badly?"  
  
"Thought I made it perfectly clear." He crossed his arms.  
  
"Hmph," she sneered. "You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself."  
  
"Say what?" What did he need to prove?  
  
"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive."  
  
_Oh, don't do it...._  
  
But they did. The lights gradually dimmed until Toriel and the door were focal points in the room. She turned around, her fists clenched, her face contorted with soullessness and apathy.  
  
_This ain't the Toriel I know._  
  
He raised his hands submissively. "Toriel, I dunno whatchu doin', but it don't look right."  
  
She moved her hands inwardly in a sweeping motion, summoning an array of fireballs out of thin air. The fire came straight for him. The youth sidestepped to his right to avoid getting blazed.   
  
Angry confusion etched across his face. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" This lady _had_ failed a 730 test! Just eight hours ago, she was rescuing him, and now she's doing the opposite!  
  
Toriel didn't reply as she sent another volley of fire toward him. Two trails of fire snaked toward him, forcing him to move back and forth. A misstep caused him to suffer a burn on his chest. When he clutched it, he noticed that a glowing heart was on his black T-shirt. It must have had something to do with the monsters' magic during scraps....  
  
He cocked his head forward and saw no change in Toriel's countenance. This motherly lady had shown her true face: another murderous monster bent on destroying him. Funny how she and his real mother, initially so different, eventually turned out to be carbon copies of each other.  
  
If she wanted a fight, he'd be happy to provide.   
  
He balled up his fists and turned his body, his left side facing her. He dared her to attack. _Try me one mo' time, snail slurpa. Jest try._  
  
Fire flew in all sorts of random patterns, the youth crouching and rolling sideways to avoid them. This time, he didn't wait for her next move. He got up from the ground, took two steps toward her, brought a fist back, and uppercut her, staggering her. He followed up with a brisk right-left hook combination before ducking under another blast, Toriel moving away from him in the process.  
  
"What happened ta not fightin', Toriel?!" he demanded, his arms trembling. She answered only with a new series of magical attacks. A flame grazed at his side, almost forcing the youth to collapse. When he felt for a wound, he didn't feel any scorch marks on his purple hoodie. He figured he was right about something: these attacks didn't just attack his body, but rather...his soul.  
  
"It's what's best for you," she said, her voice shaking slightly.  
  
"What, killin' me afta goin' through the trouble a' savin' me?! You ain't no betta than the flowa!"  
  
He charged at her, rolling under another volley. He had rolled past her, so he stood, bounded from the closed door, and left hooked the side of her head from behind. After landing, he lifted his right leg and kicked her left side, knocking her down.  
  
Crouching and glaring daggers at him, she cast an intensified series of fireballs, more heat sent in more directions. The youth wasn't hit, but he had to move back a couple of feet, which seemed to be her intention. When the wave of fire dissipated, she was standing strong again.   
  
"You treat _all_  ya houseguests like this?!" he said, surveying her with his fists raised, his legs spread shoulder-width apart.   
  
Toriel cast two quick, long streams of fire at him, their unprecedented force enough to make him collapse. He panicked and rolled on the ground to suffocate the flames on his body, but they disappeared as quickly as they hit him. He knelt down, trying to stand back up, and stared at her with gritted teeth.   
  
He couldn't take many more unexpected attacks; the strain he felt everywhere was getting serious. He needed some way to attack her from a distance, just enough to stop the fire flow and open up a weak point. His eyes flickered when he figured it out, a lopsided grin on his face.   
  
_You got fire, but I got heat a' my own!_  
  
As she slowly prepared for her next attack, the youth pulled out the .45 pistol from his waistband. A rather large fireball shot toward him, quickly closing in. He rolled to his left and knelt as the fire passed by him. Immediately he held the gun by its barrel and swung it overhand, pressing the magazine release. The magazine catapulted toward Toriel's face, hitting her square in the nose. As she flinched in pain, he raced toward her and caught the magazine with his left hand as it fell. Turning his body clockwise, he jumped and slashed horizontally with the pistol, the handle impacting her temple. The strike sent her on her backside.  
  
The youth saw bleeding from the point of impact as he reinserted the magazine. He grasped the barrel tightly and clutched his side, his injuries catching up with him. He trudged to Toriel, who was still dazed from the attack. He stomped once on her chest when she tried to rise, her eyes flicking toward his.   
  
"How strong I need ta be, Toriel?" he demanded, pinning his black tennis shoe deeper. He gritted his teeth and cast an enraged glare, ignoring her small grunt of pain. "The first time I trust somebody like this in a long time, just ta get betrayed?!"  
  
She tried to make eye contact with him as she said, "Please, understand-"  
  
"Undastand what?! That I cain't trust nobody I find down here?! _You_ avoided my questions. _You_ tried ta trap me. _You_ nearly killed me wit ya magic! And what _I_ do ta you?! All  _I_ did was go along wit ya 'mothaly goat' shtick! But I ain't havin' that no more!"  
  
His first instinct told him that she needed to die. If he were to slap her up like that, and let her live, there was no doubt she'd be beefing later on; that was how street justice worked in his world. He'd need to sleep with one eye open so that he didn't get scorched during his slumber. The thing that held him back, the thing that possibly saved Toriel right then and there, was the way she presented herself. She showed no ounce of resentment toward him; at the same time, she wasn't begging for her life, either. She looked gentle, as if she knew something like this would happen.   
  
His mind was flooded with the recollection of their first meeting. The genuine smile, the real concern for him, the true sense that she really cared for him was all highlighted in his psyche. Despite all that had happened in the last five minutes, the youth couldn't shake those events from his head. Did he have the guts to take the life of someone who saved his?  
  
_Good thang none a' the Harlem boys can see me...._  
  
He twirled the gun around the trigger guard and stuck it back in his waistband, his eyes locked on the crimson trail on the side of her face. He stepped off of Toriel in an instant.  
  
Surprised, she slowly rose to her feet again. "You...you are sparing me?"  
  
He crossed his arms and met her glance. "You cared so much about me bein' 'strong enough ta survive,' then proceeded ta bust at me, even though you took the time ta save me when I first got here. Right now, I don't know _what_ ta think aboutcha." His brows furrowed. "Why would you care if I died outside a' these ruins?"  
  
Her expression darkened. "I...let my loneliness and fears get the better of me. I have seen the last six humans come here and perish not long after leaving, from King Asgore's hand," she nearly spat his name, "just to fulfill his disgusting purposes. My child...when you leave, promise me that you will not come back. I hope you understand."  
  
"Wit pleasure." He walked to the doors and put a hand on one, feeling the smooth texture of the purple surface. He glanced at Toriel and noticed how truly heartbroken she truly looked. She exhibited a sad smile and eyes looking at him with longing. All the malice she had shown was lost. She wasn't even angry with him for how coldly he acted. _She ain't gon' stop me?  
  
_ He pushed open the door and stared into the darkness within. He heard Toriel's footsteps getting fainter and fainter.  
  
If you were to ask why he did what he did next, the youth would have been unable to provide a clear answer.  
  
He turned back to her. "Toriel." His expression softened a degree. The goat lady met his glance, her feet over the threshold on the opposite side of the room. "My name is Sergio." He closed the door before he could see her reaction.   
  
The amalgamation of emotions rushed back into his mind again as he strode down another long hall, fighting through the all-around agony. All that she had done in the last few minutes was supposed to be for _his_ benefit? He didn't feel like a beneficiary, considering that he was still in pain and left with more questions than before. Her reaction to even thinking about this Asgore character was grave, and she was making him out to be the worst thing to happen since modern popular music. Was she _really_ trying to protect him? Would dying at his hand be a lot worse than being burned alive?   
  
What "disgusting purposes" did Asgore need to fulfill? Was he some sort of wicked king who would unleash a tyrannical regime on the land? Frankly, Sergio didn't care. If he was so important to Asgore, and if the king was beefing, then this Asgore would catch some knuckles. But if, by some chance, Sergio _did_ die here, he certainly wouldn't be caring about what happened after rigor mortis.   
  
So, that was it then. He would either face death or freedom. He assumed that nobody would miss him on the surface or underground if he _did_ pass away, would they? A hollow laugh escaped his lips.   
  
Realization hit him like a 12-gauge. He started to draw parallels between monsters and humans. The night at Toriel's crib had shown him how similar the two species were. If the similarities didn't stop there, it was likely that this king had a legion of soldiers to fight for him. Sergio wouldn't get close to the king or his freedom if that were the case. He felt that his high regard for his ego was mostly justified, but even he knew the chances of succeeding against a whole royal battalion were slimmer than he was. He'd have to concoct an alternative plan if...no, _when_ the time came.  
  
He reached the end of the hall and entered another dark room, a column of light shining down on a patch of grass. Sergio gritted his teeth when he saw him. _Flowey...._ His hand hovered over his hip as he stared with caution.   
  
Flowey's eyebrows curled in a skeptical expression. "Clever. Verrrry clever. You think you're really smart, don't you? In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules." Flowey's face contorted into a demonic appearance as he laughed, then switched back to "normal." "You didn't kill anybody this time. But what will you do if you meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and you'll die, until you tire of trying. What will you do then?" The flower's bared his teeth in a wicked smile. "Will you kill out of frustration, or will you give up entirely on this world and let ME inherit the power to control it?"  
  
"If you think I'mma letchu win, afta whatchu tried ta do, you got anotha thang comin' ta you." He stood his ground, undesirous to provoke him. Toriel wouldn't be here to save him if he were surrounded by bullets again.   
  
Also, what was that about "he'll die and he'll die and he'll die?" He was a human, which meant that after he died, that was it. There was no returning to this world, as far as he knew. But what did Flowey know that he didn't?   
  
"What power do _you_ have, human? You're a mere specimen from the streets on the surface, a 'hood rat,' as you would call it. Whereas _I_ am the prince of this world's future. _I_ control the fate of your and everyone else's pitiful existence. But my plan isn't regicide. What I plan to do is much more interesting."  
  
The flower's face expanded as he giggled, the sound still chilling Sergio to the bone, before he vanished into the ground. Sergio exhaled at the sight. Flowey didn't feel like killing him this time. While he was grateful for his continued life, Sergio had more questions. _Why_ wasn't he deep-sixed? Why was Flowey warning him about a "relentless killer?" Most importantly, what exactly did Flowey's "plan" consist of?  
  
_It's "kill or be killed," huh? So that's whatchu want me ta do. You want me ta kill all a' dem monstas so you can rise ta power, don'tcha? Well, you picked the wrong hood rat for that, playboy._  
  
He'd avoided most monsters and talked with others. He kicked the crap out of Toriel, but he let her live. His underground body count was still zero. He inferred he'd only kill when necessary beforehand. But if he found a way to get through this underground world without flatlining anyone.... _Heh-heh, oldboy gon' be steamin'._  
  
_Aight, new plan_ , he thought as he approached the next door. Getting out of here was a constant. However, the newest interaction with his favorite murderous plant reminded him of his beef with Flowey. He would now go out of his way to make life hell for him: he'll go throughout this underground, not kill anybody he came across (if survival allowed), and live to thwart Flowey's rise to power. The thoughts entertained him quite well.  
  
_Where the pesticide at?_  
  
Strangely enough, the moment he thought that, he felt his full strength coming back to him. The pain he felt was no more. There wasn't anybody around him to heal him. He stopped trying to comprehend whatever magic occurred to him and kept moving, the door within his reach. 

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"You don't seem ta be against him lockin' me up. How can I trust ya?"_

_"If you don't trust me, trust yourself."_

_.     .     ._

_"Well, you wanna know why people around here attack humans?"_  
  
_"'Cause ain't nothin' else betta ta do here?"_  
  
_"Because people are afraid of you."_

_.     .     ._

_"You think he'd let you get to the surface scot-free if you're posing a threat to his people?"_  
  
_"How I'm posin' a threat? The only thang that's different 'bout me is that I cain't cast magic!"_

_.     .     ._

_"I'm not saying you have to trust everybody; not everyone is like me or Papyrus.But I _am_ saying that there are people here who'd want to help you, myself included. When you meet them, don't be afraid to trust them."_


	3. Blue Stop Signs

Sergio felt a blast of cold air when he opened the door, shivering as he zipped up his jacket, put on his hood, and folded his arms. Snow crunched under his feet as he walked through the wintry forest, wind howling through the trees. The snow did provide a boost in his mood; he couldn't think of any flowers that flourished in these conditions. Besides, the snow in New York was a lot worse. He just wished he'd brought a long-sleeve shirt.  
  
His teeth clacking, he squatted down to pick up a large branch. He figured such an object would work as a good melee weapon if he needed it. However, the branch's length and weight made it too unwieldy for effective use, and it was too cold to hold with bare hands. He dropped the branch and kept going.   
  
He didn't take 10 steps before he heard a large _SNAP!_ He checked behind him. The branch he saw a few seconds ago had snapped in half, as easily as one would break a toothpick. What was strong enough to fracture a stick so effortlessly? More importantly, was there someone--or something--following him? He couldn't see anything on the path, so he thought whatever was behind him concealed itself in the trees.   
  
There was no easier prey to catch than stationary prey, so he kept walking forward, his gait a bit faster. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, the hood rat forgetting about the cold air. His breath became visible in faster intervals.   
  
He continued on the trail, unable to shake the feeling that a strong...something was nearby. The track record of beings that ended up attacking him was in nowise reassuring. Of course, there were the wise frogs who pleaded with him to show mercy on monsters who wouldn't fight him anymore. There were monsters he just let be, like the bouncing Jell-O monsters that smelled like mold and the winged ghost who moved away from him before he could finish saying a word. An extremely peculiar case was when another ghost without wings cried and the tears turned into projectiles. Sergio doubted it had confrontational intentions when it moaned about being "in the way." To be honest, he somewhat felt bad for it.  
  
Another sound broke out behind him, as if something appeared out of thin air. He looked back again. The same result: nothing visible. _Aw, great. An invisible monsta, here ta wet me up...._ Thousands of images flashed in his head as he imagined a gigantic monster appearing from the shadows, killing him in a variety of ways.  
  
 _Maybe it's territorial,_ thought Sergio as pushed forward. _I'll jest explain that I'm passin' through if that's the case...._  
  
The trail led to a small wooden bridge surrounded by widely-spaced iron bars. Must have been a cosmetic thing. He took a step on the bridge to test its strength. The bridge didn't bend under his weight.   
  
The snow crunched loudly behind him. Something was getting close. Sergio pulled out the .45 and tried to examine the being approaching him. It was shrouded in shadows and impossible to make out.   
  
"Ay, I ain't lookin' for trouble," he stated as it got closer.   
  
" _H u m a n .  D o n ' t  y o u  k n o w  h o w  t o  g r e e t  a  n e w  p a l ?_ " The voice was hollow, almost a whisper, sending goosebumps all over Sergio's body.   
  
His brown eyes the size of dinner plates, he responded, "Ain't no pal a' mine act sheisty like that and sneak up on me!"   
  
He discerned that the figure had a vaguely human shape and was about his height. It extended an arm-like appendage. Whatever this creature was, it had long, slender fingers that looked suspiciously like claws.  
  
" _G o  a h e a d .  S h a k e  m y  h a n d ."_  
  
Trying to mask his fear, he frowned and answered, "I'd be more likely ta shake hands wit someone that I can see!"  
  
A low laugh from the monster as its hand receded. " _I  s u p p o s e  t h a t ' s  f a i r ."_  
  
Sergio shifted on his feet as it emerged from darkness, all of his senses heightened, his grasp on the pistol tightened. _Gulp._  
  
A walking, talking skeleton appeared, wearing a blue hoodie and black pants. Its hands in the jacket pockets, it constantly smiled at him as it spoke in a familiar accent, "Now, how about that handshake?"   
  
The goofy, laid-back nature in which the skeleton presented itself sent a rush of relief to Sergio, followed by elevated annoyance. "Man, you were _this_ close," he held his thumb and finger a short distance apart, then made a fist, "ta gettin' this work! Bet not sneak up on me like that again!"  
  
The skeleton laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face. You're funny when you think you're in danger."  
  
"Won't be laughin' so hard when I pop off one a' these days." Sergio stashed the pistol and crossed his arms.  
  
"Hey, take it easy, buddy, it was all just a joke." The skeleton passively raised its hands, trying not to be threatening. "Around here, you oughta...CHILL out." It accompanied its pun with a wink, the skeleton's eye socket clicking.   
  
Sergio, however, was anything but amused. He retained his dour expression and tapped a finger on his arm.  
  
"Huh, tough crowd. That's okay." The skeleton cleared its throat(?). "Anyway, you're a human, right?" His glare gave it a clear answer. "That's hilarious. I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton."  
  
"Right...." Sergio was wary of giving his name to too many monsters around here. To be honest, what did it matter to the monsters? It wasn't as though any of them would _really_ get to know him.   
  
"I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now," Sans continued. Sergio's right arm twitched, his eyebrows raised. "But...y'know, I don't really care about capturing anybody."  
  
Did this Sans think that would work? "You'll forgive me if I don't believe ya."  
  
"No, really. I've never had a good reason to capture anyone." Sans casually sauntered near the edge of the bridge. An eyebrow(?) raised, he looked at Sergio. "Now, my brother, Papyrus...he's a human hunting FANATIC."  
  
"Well, tell ya brotha ta keep 'is distance, and we won't have no problems."  
  
"Funny you should say that. I think that's him right there," he gestured behind Sergio, who looked back and saw an outline of a taller skeleton. "I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy. My bro made this too wide to stop anyone."   
  
Keeping one eye on Sans, Sergio stepped cautiously over to the other side. He found a randomly-placed lamp and a checkpoint stand left of the trail.   
  
"You, uh, might want to hide someplace," Sans suggested, which happened to be Sergio's plan. The lamp was fitter for a smaller, younger protagonist, so he trotted to the stand and crouched behind it. He thought the stand was built for anyone inspecting humans or monsters who passed through, but he found a collection of condiment bottles lying around at the bottom of it. Whoever was in charge of this stand lived like a pig!  
  
Hastened footsteps from the other side of the trail accompanied impatient breathing.   
  
"'Sup, bro?" he heard Sans say.  
  
"You know what's ''sup,' brother!" another voice announced with an orotund voice. "It's been eight days, and you still haven't recalibrated. Your. Puzzles! You just hang around outside your station!"   
  
Sergio scowled at the noise. While Sans' voice reminded him of home--it had a heavy Brooklyn sound to it--the other skeleton ( _What was 'is name, Paprika or somethin'?_ ) had a voice that sounded like an out-of-tune trumpet, and just as loud. What did the other skeleton look like? His head poked out from the top of the stand.   
  
He perused a tall skeleton with a longer, skinnier head, as opposed to Sans's shorter, rounder skull. It wore white body armor and a red cape, boxing gloves, and boots. As expected, Paprika wore an exceptionally miffed expression.  
  
"What are you even doing?" the tall skeleton went on.  
  
"Staring at this stand." Sans' small, white pupils flicked to Sergio's, and the human hid his face again. "It's really cool. Do you wanna look?"  
  
 _Ay, Sans, are you tryna get me dirtnapped?!_  
  
"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" the other skeleton exclaimed, stamping his foot in the snow by the sound of it. "What if a human comes through here?! I want to be ready! I will be the one! I must be the one! I will capture a human!" His tone shifted to one slightly more pleasant to hear. "Then I, the great Papyrus, will get all the things I utterly deserve! Respect! Recognition!" He rolled his Rs as he spoke, either because of an accent or an idiosyncrasy. "I will finally be able to join the Royal Guard! People will ask...to be my...friend? I will bathe in a shower of kisses every morning!" _Ew._  
  
"Hmm...maybe that stand over there can help you."  
  
"Sans! You are not helping, you lazybones! All you do is sit and boondoggle! You get lazier and lazier every day!"  
  
"Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today." The way Sans emphasized the word made Sergio panic. _Don't do it--_ "A skele- _ton._ " Sergio nearly gave away his position when he groaned.  
  
"SANS!"    
  
"Come on, you're smiling."  
  
"I am and I hate it!" _I'm wit ya, pimpin'._ The skeleton sighed. "Why does someone as great as me have to do so much to get some recognition?"  
  
"Wow, sounds like you're really working yourself...down to the _bone_." Sergio bit his lip, his eye twitching.  
  
"Ugh! I will attend to my puzzles. As for your work, put a little more... _backbone_ into it!" Papyrus sounded too proud of his comeback joke as his childish laugh was carried over the trail. Was Sergio in the clear?  
  
"Heh!" he heard Papyrus say before the skeleton left for real.   
  
A moment of silence....  
  
"Okay, you can come out now," Sans said to him. Sergio emerged from the stand, staring pointedly at him.  
  
"What was all a' that?! Are you wit me, or not?!"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Sans asked, the smile still on his face.   
  
"The whole 'I'm lookin' at the stand' bit! Seem like you _do_ care 'bout gettin' me captured after all!"  
  
"But were you captured, though?" Sans replied, his grin impish.  
  
"No, but you almost--"  
  
"Then you better get going, otherwise he might come back, and you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." He concluded his thoughts with a wink.  
  
That was reason enough for Sergio to progress. He turned on his heel and marched throughout the snowy trail.   
  
"Actually, hey, hate to bother ya...but could you do me a favor?"  
  
 _Oldboy nearly got me captured, and now he want MY help?_ His lips were tightly closed when he paused and turned to hear the rest of the proposition.  
  
"I was thinking...my brother's been kinda down lately. He's never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day."  
  
A joyless laugh from Sergio. "I'm glad I can turn frowns upside down by gettin' my head on a pike for somebody."  
  
"Don't worry, he's not dangerous, even if he tries to be."  
  
"Once again, you'll forgive me if I don't believe ya." It was apparent that the stunt Sans pulled earlier left a mark on him.   
  
"Oh, well. If you change your mind, I'll be up ahead." Strangely, he went back the way both of them came, towards the bridge. How would he be "up ahead" by going backwards?  
  
The trail split off to two paths, one going straight, the other going left. By going left, he found a fishing pole set up near a lake. Nothing to scrounge there. There was a box back at the trail intersection with a sign that informed him that items could be stored inside and accessed later, with boxes stored in various locations around the underground. It had to be a trap; if he left something there, somebody else would be able to take it. He felt fine with his backpack.  
  
"So, as I was saying about Undyne..." Papyrus began when Sergio continued on the trail. Both he and Sans turned to the sound of his footsteps. The skeletons looked at him, then at each other in disbelief, then twirled on the spot as if trying to register what they were seeing. They both turned to Sergio, then turned around to discuss the sight among themselves.  
  
"Sans! Oh, my god! Is that...a human?!"  
  
Sergio stared callously, his arms crossed. These bozos were obstructing his path, so he waited for them to clear out.  
  
"Uh...actually, I think that's a rock," Sans answered. Sergio peeked behind himself and saw a small stone embedded in the snow. What, was Sans trying to make up for what he did earlier by ridiculously denying seeing him?   
  
"Oh," Papyrus said, disappointed.   
  
"Hey, what's that in front of the rock?" _Too good ta be true_ , Sergio thought with spite.  
  
Papyrus took a closer look at Sergio. "Oh, my god!" Then he loudly whispered to Sans, "Is...is that a human?"  
  
"Yes."   
  
"Oh, my god! Sans, I finally did it!" the skeleton proclaimed. "Undyne will...I'm gonna...I'll be so...popular! Popular! Popular!" He nearly bounced off the ground in enthusiasm with every word, then faced Sergio. "Human! You shall not pass this area!"  
  
"Why not?" the hood rat retorted.   
  
"Because, I, the great Papyrus, shall capture you! You will be delivered to the capital! Then...then...I'm not sure what's next...."  
  
"You arrestin' me?! But I ain't do nothin' illegal!" The lie passed easily from his lips. Well, he thought he didn't do anything illegal in terms of the _monsters'_ laws, at least, despite the differences between monsters and humans.   
  
"That is falser than false! You are a human trespassing on our land! With that, I leave you with a warning: Continue if you dare! Nyeh-heh-heh-heh!" Papyrus about-faced and exited the scene.  
  
"Well, that went well. Don't sweat it, kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya," Sans assured, a socket closed in the remark.   
  
"Ya don't seem ta be against him lockin' me up. How can I trust ya?"  
  
"If trusting _me_ doesn't work, then trust yourself. Think about it: You got yourself out of the ruins alive. Knowing Papyrus, he couldn't do anything to you that you couldn't handle. You'll be okay." With that, Sans turned and left him, following his brother.  
  
If Sergio thought Toriel was confusing, then she didn't hold a candle to what these skeleton brothers were. They seemed straight out of a comedy routine like Abbott and Costello, what with their constant bickering and foolishness. Sans kept saying that he'd look out for him, while Papyrus had huge aspirations to serve the king. Apparently, there was a bit of a bounty on Sergio's head, if it was enough to get a scrub like Papyrus a job protecting this land's people. If Sergio physically antagonized anyone, Papyrus would look like a hero if the skeleton succeeded.   
  
 _So, let's give 'im less reasons ta book me.  
  
_ He heard a bird's call from above him. Something crash-landed in front of him, blasting snow in all directions. Vexed, Sergio brushed the snow off his clothes. The thing that landed seemed to be a giant bird wearing a mask. Where it came from, he had no idea.   
  
"What are you doin'?" he questioned, shivering again.   
  
"Ah, I've finally found an audience! Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out here tonight!"  
  
Sergio looked around himself. "You _do_ realize I'm the only one here, right?"  
  
"Enough comments from the peanut gallery!"  
  
The immediate area became darker, not much difference in brightness when it happened. _Of course.  
_  
The crazy-looking masked bird stared at Sergio with an almost hungry look in his eyes. He wondered whether the bird truly sought an audience, or sought his soul. Recalling Toriel's advice, he started off by talking to it.  
  
"You ain't lookin' for trouble, is ya? Masks mean bad news where I'm from." Intentional humor was never one of his strong suits.   
  
However, the bird produced a halfway genuine laugh. "Ha-ha, nice try," it said. White discs from every direction slowly hurled toward Sergio. There was no specific pattern to them, so he bobbed and weaved every direction in order to avoid collision. He stood strong when the attacks dissipated, his left side toward the bird.  
  
 _'Kay, so it ain't too dangerous. I might be able to talk it outta tryna kill me.  
  
_ He looked up at the bird and found it muttering to itself, as if practicing a story or a joke. So, it reckoned itself a comedian, eh? Maybe if he just laughed at a joke, he'd get away scot-free.   
  
Knees bent in a defensive stance, he waited for it to finish its joke. Amazingly, it didn't take an opportunity to attack him in this period of time.  
  
"You wanna know what my favorite cereal is?" it finally asked.  
  
Feigning interest, Sergio said, "What?"   
  
" _Frosted_." The ends of its beak were turned upward in a smug grin.  
  
 _He's even worse than Sans._ He forced laughs in irregular intervals, slapping his knee in good measure. Oddly enough, it was sufficient to pacify the now proud-looking bird.   
  
"Thanks! You're all great!" it said. With that, it fluttered away, and the area became brighter again. Sergio brushed the snow off his clothes and continued on the path.   
  
A stand was placed on the left of the trail, different from the one that had condiment bottles at the bottom of it. It looked considerably better, except for the uneven rooftop; the two sides of the rooftop were built with dissimilar angles, leaving one end higher than the other. A sign had a message written in all caps, and Sergio immediately associated the handwriting with Papyrus; the writer seemed proud of himself, and the heavy capitalization fit with the skeleton's constant yelling.  
  
Another sign read "Absolutely NO MOVING!!!" further on the path. What, were there infrared lasers deployed? Unlikely; assuming that there were more people in this place than two skeleton doofuses and a bird that shouldn't quit its day job, a lot of monsters probably passed through here. Another sentry stand was set up near the trail, Sergio assuming that there was someone in there. With Papyrus going crazy about a human here, apparently the place had been put on high alert, and he'd hoped for the monsters' sakes that high alert meant more than two skeletons guarding an entrance wide enough for Big Pun and Biggie Smalls to walk through, side by side.   
  
He pinned his back against the side of the sentry station. He needed to get to the other side without any sentinel seeing him. The front part had an opening, but the back part consisted of a closed door. Just two quick, silent steps behind the back door would be sufficient.  
  
However, when he took the steps, he heard movement stirring from inside the sentry station. He pinned his back against the wall on the station's other side.  
  
"I heard something move. Did something move?" a hoarse voice croaked. "Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things." _Hmm, useful._ "If something _was_ moving, for instance, a human...I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!"  
  
The back door swung open, revealing an anthropomorphic dog wearing a muscle shirt and...were those baggy polka dot pants? Well, monsters didn't care how they looked down here, did they? Any funny impressions Sergio received were dashed by the two short, yet lethal-looking swords it carried. As it slowly walked around the station, its squinted eyes shifted to and fro, desperately searching for him.  
  
So, the dog had a hard time seeing him, eh? Still pinned to the wall, Sergio recalled dogs' abilities to smell and hear things with increased perception. Obviously it heard him, but couldn't exactly smell him, even though he was two feet away from it. If he moved, he'd be detected. He considered his options: He could punch out the dog when it didn't expect it, possibly jack its two swords if needed; he could simply wait for the dog to turn its back and make a break for it; and a truly crazy idea was to pacify it somehow. It may have walked on two legs and spoken English, but it was still a dog. If only there was a stick around him....  
  
The dog finally stepped close to him, scrutinizing what little of the environment it could see. The moment he was sure he was out of its peripheral vision, Sergio extended an arm and lightly scratched it behind the ear. It gave a confused bark and twisted its head in all directions, frantically looking for him.  
  
"WHAT?!" it boomed. "I'VE BEEN PET! POT? PAT? PET? PAT?" Sergio remained still, refraining from laughing as he watched the dog's dilemma with past tenses and human-to-dog signs of affection.   
  
"S-s-s-something pet me, something that isn't moving..." it said with amazement. "I'm gonna need some dog treats for this!" The dog went back into the station, a lighter in one hand and a red doggy bone in another. Further along the path, Sergio found small red bone pieces that lay in piles of ash, resembling cigarette butts. Slightly intrigued, he went on, careful to step silently as he receded from the station.  
  
He walked more resolutely when he saw Sans chilling on the side of the trail, no pun intended. His face immediately turned sour at the sight of the skeleton.  
  
"Hey, here's something important to remember," he said, stopping Sergio in his tracks. "My brother has a very special attack. If you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you."  _Huh, he actually helpin' me for once...unless he settin' me up...._ "Here's a way to remember it easier: Imagine a stop sign. When you see a stop sign, you stop, right?"   
  
"Yeah..." he answered. _Although, wit rush hour traffic, you ain't got a choice but ta stop.  
  
_ "Stop signs are red, so just imagine a blue stop sign instead." Sergio exhibited a muddled expression in response to Sans's analogy, which went unnoticed. "Simple, right? When fighting, just think of blue stop signs."  
  
"Why I get the feelin' you indirectly tryna ice me?"  
  
The skeleton chuckled. "Good one."  
  
Sergio's brows furrowed. "I didn't--" He clenched his teeth and shoved his hands into his pockets, not realizing that Sans didn't answer his question.  
  
He approached a sign that provided him directions. Heading north, west, and south would only lead to ice. East would lead to a place called Snowdin Town (and ice). He would have referred to the sun's position to get his bearings, but being underground kind of made that difficult. Fortunately, the sign pointed out all the directions for him. He was walking east in the first place, so he made no deviation in his route.  
  
 _Aw, naw, not these two again._ Sergio desperately searched for a hiding place when he saw the skeleton brothers arguing in the trail ahead. Unfortunately, the forestry on either side of him was too thick to hide in. The square patch of snow in front of him had a greyed-out look to it. Wary of traps, he listened for any tidbits he could get from an unaware guard-in-training.  
  
"You're so lazy! You were napping all night!" the taller skeleton accused.   
  
"I think that's called...sleeping," replied Sans dismissively.  
  
"Excuses, excuses!" Papyrus did a double-take when he looked over at Sergio. With a gleeful smile, he bellowed, "Oh-ho! The human arrives! In order to stop you, my brother and I have created some puzzles! I think you will find this one...quite shocking! For you see, this is the invisible electricity maze!"  
  
 _Invisible electric field? Good thing I ain't step up._ Sergio's fingers curled near his hip.  
  
"When you touch the walls of this maze, this orb will administer a hearty zap!" Papyrus continued, pulling out a pearl-colored orb. He earned a hateful squint from Sergio. Suddenly uncertain, he went on, "Sound like fun? Because...the amount of fun you will probably have is actually rather small I think. Okay, you can go ahead now!"  
  
Papyrus was out of his mind if he thought Sergio would simply go through this invisible maze with instructions like that. Sergio didn't feel like turning into a fried hoodlum just to pacify a potentially insane, yet ambitious skeleton monster. He hopelessly scrutinized the environment for a circumvention route without luck. Sans, for some odd reason, winked at him.  _Well,_ he thought, _the rubba in my shoes might mitigate the shock. Ain't no tellin' what it'll do ta my cell phone._  
  
 _Cell phone...Toriel....If I can take fire, why cain't I take electricity?_  
  
Determined, Sergio took a step forward. He heard a buzzing sound on the opposite side of the square patch. Papyrus's body spasmodically jerked, his eyes wide. Sergio could see little trails of smoke wafting from the electrified skeleton.  
  
"SANS! What did you do?!" Papyrus demanded, stamping his foot in the snow.  
  
"I think the human has to hold the orb."   
  
Papyrus stormed away from his brother and walked to the edge of the snow patch, unaware of the impressions his boots left in the snow. Sergio's face remained dour with an eyebrow raised. Did Papyrus just inadvertently reveal the safe route through the maze? He almost laughed at the thought. It didn't take much to outsmart this royal guard wannabe, did it?   
  
"Hold this, please," Papyrus requested as he approached the human.  
  
Sergio took the orb from Papyrus's hand. "Oh, ya need me ta hold this?" He turned around and brought his arm back. "YEET!" He cast the orb from whence he came, the object landing out of sight. He turned to the tall skeleton. "Outta here wit that nonsense, pimpin'!" He crossed the snow patch in a straight line, disregarding the safe route as outlined by Papyrus.   
  
Papyrus watched the flying orb, his countenance fallen. He then witnessed the human going through the puzzle he'd work so hard on. He cleared his throat. "You slippery snail! You found a solution I never would have imagined! But I can assure you that you won't squirm your way out of the next one! It was designed by my brother, Sans!"  
  
"If dis next one is anythang like that last one, I ain't got cause for worry," Sergio shot back, his arms crossed.  
  
"Aha! I wouldn't be so confident!" With that, Papyrus ambled onward across the trail. Sergio's eyes flicked to Sans.  
  
"You know, it'd really make my brother happy if you played along," he said simply.  
  
"And it'd make _me_ happy if every monsta down here stopped tryna kill ya boy!" Sergio retorted.   
  
"I haven't. My brother hasn't." Sans pointed out.  
  
"Yet."  
  
"Well, you wanna know why people around here attack humans?"   
  
"'Cause ain't nothin' else betta ta do here?"  
  
"Because people are afraid of you. I'm sure you've heard that you're not the first human to come down here." Sans's voice lost the warm hospitality reminiscent of Sergio's home. Even his trademark smile faded. "Once everyone gets word that another human is down here, people are sure to go crazy."  
  
"Which is why I'm tryna expedite my escape." Sergio turned on his heel, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.  
  
"It'll take a long time, kid. This underground is a lot bigger than what most humans realize. You've got quite a bit to traverse through before even getting close to the barrier. And considering if you're alive by then, you'll have to get through King Asgore. You think he'd let you get to the surface scot-free if you're posing a threat to his people?"  
  
"How _I'm_ posin' a threat? The only thang that's different 'bout me is that I cain't cast magic. And if ya must know, 'Sans,'" he said the name as if it left a vinegary taste, "I ain't attack nobody down here that ain't step up ta _me_  lookin' for beef. If _they_ don't start nothin', there won't _be_ nothin'!"  
  
"But looking at you, most monsters wouldn't think there wouldn't be 'nothing' with you around. Anyone'd feel unsafe around someone who always looked and sounded mad like you do, especially if they tried to help you."  
  
It was interesting how the expression he wore to repel others was counterproductive, and possibly threatening his life.   
  
"Whatchu tryna say, then, play it nice until I get flatlined? I got no reason ta trust nobody down here."  
  
"I'm not saying you have to trust everybody; not everyone is like me or Papyrus.But I _am_ saying that there are people here who'd want to help you, myself included." Sans walked toward the square snow patch. He stopped and turned his skull to look at him. "When you meet them, don't be afraid to trust them. I'll be around." With that profound statement, he went his way.   
  
Sergio adjusted his hood before going his own way. He didn't expect Sans to know about the trust issues he had. His mother regretted ever giving birth to him. His friends had pushed him to dash his inhibitions. Even Toriel forcefully tried to trap him in the ruins. With all of this danger to his well-being, Sergio found it wise to size up people _and_ monsters with painstaking detail before they had a chance to hurt him.   
  
 _And this skeleton ova here tellin' me there's trustworthy people down here. I'll trust the five-o 'fore I trust any one a' these suckas._  
  
He passed what looked like an ice cream vendor _in the middle of a snowy environment_ on the way to this "Snowdin Town." The vendor was overjoyed to find a potential customer and eagerly asked if Sergio wanted something called "Nice Cream."   
  
 _Yeah, I've always wanted ta spend money to help me get frostbite._ The little human cash he had on him wasn't going to be wasted on something arbitrary like that.  
  
"Only 15 gold pieces!" the vendor offered. _Gold pieces?_ Logical, since humans had to dig underground for gold. Also, what value would American currency have down here?  
  
He'd wanted to comment on a lot of things about the vendor, from its hairstyle to the choices it made for business, but he eventually remarked, "I ain't got the cash." He shuffled onward, leaving the vendor dejected.  
  
He gritted his teeth when Papyrus and Sans blocked his way once more. "What is it now?" he grumbled.  
  
"Human! I hope you're ready for...." Papyrus looked surprised when he saw the only thing between him and Sergio was a paper lying on the ground. "Sans! Where's the puzzle?!"  
  
"It's right there, on the ground. Trust me, there's no way he can get past this one."  
  
"Now you just insultin' me," replied Sergio, squatting to pick up the paper. He found a series of letters, some of them forming various words in different directions. "It's a word search," he concluded, clenching his jaw as he crumpled the paper up. "It's a word search." He threw the wad of paper down, clenching a fist. "If you don't get yo'--"   
  
"Sans, that didn't do anything!" Papyrus complained.   
  
"Whoops," he said, not much care in his voice. "Guess I should have used today's crossword instead."   
  
"What? Crossword?! I can't believe you said that! In my opinion," Papyrus went on, lifting his chin and pointing to himself, "Junior Jumble is easily the hardest."  
  
"What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones."  
  
"Un-be-lievable," Papyrus enunciated, putting his head in his palm. "Human! Solve this dispute!"  
  
 _Ugh, what I wouldn't give ta slap these suckas senseless right now._ However, even Sergio could know when violence would simply lead to more trouble. He could feel a migraine coming along just from these skeletons' antics. But it'd all be worth it just to see Flowey's smug face contort into one of defeat, before ripping him from the roots and tearing off his petals one by one.   
  
Rubbing his temples, he answered, "Crossword puzzles is harda."  
  
"You two are weird! Crosswords are so easy! It's the same solution every time. I just fill all the boxes in with the letter 'Z,' because every time I look at a crossword, all I can do is snore!" With his trademark laugh, Papyrus exited.  
  
"Got any more sage advice for me?" Sergio asked Sans insincerely.  
  
"Just that Papyrus finds difficulty in strange places. Yesterday, he was stumped trying to solve the horoscope."  
  
Sergio's lip curled up in a silent chuckle.   
  
"Ah, so you _do_ have a sense of humor," Sans noted, a skeleton equivalent of an eyebrow raised. It was slightly more comfortable for Sergio to see Sans smiling instead of frowning this time around.   
  
"Don't get used to it," he replied, his smile quickly fading.   
  
"See? That's exactly what I was talking about earlier."  
  
Weird it was to witness a plate of spaghetti prepared on the table further ahead, along with a microwave. Sergio also noticed a small mouse hole in the wall to his left. He wasn't hungry, so he ignored the frozen pasta. The unplugged microwave was a bit more interesting; there wasn't an electric outlet nearby, and all of the settings on the microwave said "spaghetti." On the ground was a note; he picked it up and read it as he kept walking:  
  
 _HUMAN!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!!! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING!! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!_  
  
 _NYEH-HEH-HEH,_  
 _PAPYRUS_  
  
"This dude right here," Sergio commented, leaving the note on the microwave. Well, he had to give Papyrus some props; he was one of the only monsters who haven't ended up attacking him on sight. Maybe Sans was right about him not being dangerous after all.  
  
 _Warnin': Dog Marriage._ He took note of the sign on his left as he analyzed the environment. It was simply a snowy clearing with a rock wall standing in the middle. To his right, a square of freshly-compiled snow lay, obviously concealing something. It must have been another one of Papyrus's simplistic puzzles.  
  
Speaking of Papyrus, the skeleton showed an unyielding loyalty to his aspirations of being part of the royal guard. Sergio could certainly use someone like him as long as he was down here. Maybe if he got on Papyrus's good side, he'd be an invaluable asset. To be on his good side, however, he'd have to go through heaven-knew-how-many more puzzles to pacify him. (It was easy to forget that the puzzles were somehow meant to capture him.)   
  
Ah, right, Papyrus capturing him would be the prerequisite for his dream job. So, he couldn't let the skeleton simply capture him. Perhaps there was another way to win him over. However, if Papyrus somehow liked Sergio enough before capturing him, he may acquire enough clout to convince Asgore not to make heads roll.   
  
 _Nah, too risky; oldboy jest met me._  
  
He heard a twig snap in the woods. Senses heightened, he extracted the gun from his waistband. He squinted as he tried to see what was coming for him....  
  
He witnessed a wolf-sized white dog clad in grey armor, wielding a stone sword and a large shield. After two barks, the area became dark. Curious, Sergio looked at his own chest. Just like before, he saw a red heart where his actual heart would be. He'd have to worry about this phenomenon after dealing with the sentry.  
  
Even though the dog was well-armed, it had an zealous expression, with enthusiastic panting and a wagging tail. That meant the dog was happy, right? Either it found someone to play with or something to kill, certainly a toss-up with all things considered.   
  
He slowly put the gun back in his waistband, carefully putting his hands where the dog could see. If this guard dog was anything like the last one, then previous strategies were sure to be failproof.  
  
"Aight, dog....You a friendly?" Sergio asked, mostly to himself. He slowly approached the guard dog and unfurrowed his brows, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. He raised a hand in order to scratch it behind the ears.   
  
He barely touched the dog when it extended its neck in excitement, its tail wagging in a faster pace. Sergio smiled at it, amused. He felt weighty thuds in the snow near his feet; it had dropped its weapons; his strategy was working like a charm. Then the dog jumped on him, its mass large enough to knock Sergio to the ground. It nipped at Sergio's face, but the human knew that it was simply being playful. Despite the slobber flying onto his cheeks, he'd take this over impalement any day of the week.   
  
Sergio eventually pushed the dog off of him and got to his feet. Wiping canine saliva from his face and fur from his clothes, he gestured for the dog to wend its way. "Go on, then." Pacified, the dog simply picked up its weapon and disappeared into the woods. His surroundings became lighter again.   
  
 _Heh-heh, maybe these monstas ain't so bad...well, the dogs, at least. Looks like I done figured out they weakness._  
  
He trudged toward the freshly-compiled snow and uncovered a sort of map of the immediate area, a red "X" indicating something. It must have been involved with the spikes protruding from the ground ahead. He followed the map and pulled a switch. _Click!_ He was in.   
  
After crossing a short bridge, he heard two sets of footsteps getting louder in the snow. Two figures in black cloaks were approaching him, both carrying large battle axes. Their eyes were covered by the hoods, but the look of the snouts indicated that they were more dogs. He briefly recounted the sign he read prior to meeting the shielded dog.  
  
So, if the hoods were over their eyes, would that mean that their eyesight wasn't prioritized, like the Dog Treats guard? And if so, what was?   
  
The dogs in cloaks stopped on either side of Sergio, who froze in place and shifted his eyes from one dog to the other. A male voice asked, "What's that smell?"  
  
A female voice added, "(Where's that smell?)"  
  
"If you're a smell...."  
  
"(...identify yoursmellf!)"  
  
The dogs scrambled around the small clearing, passing every square inch except where Sergio stood, the human being cautious. He could have made a break for it if he could have avoided bumping into one of them. With any luck, he'd run right into the sharp end of one of the axes.   
  
So, the dogs were trying to find him by smell, huh? Apparently they weren't too perceptive with their eyes. Curious, he smelled his hands. They reeked with the smell of dirt and canine body odor. Disgusting? Yes. Beneficial?   
  
 _We gon' see 'bout that._  
  
"Hmm, here's that weird smell," said the male dog, gesturing with the bottom of his axe. "It makes me want to eliminate."  
  
"(Eliminate you!)"  
  
The new battlefield became dark, a heart visible on Sergio's chest. _Seriously, what does this mean?_ The two dogs blocked the way forward and stood side by side, simultaneously taking off their hoods. They crossed their axes so that each dog protected the other's torso with the flat ends of their weapons. The dog on the left side had a cowlick hairdo; the one on the right, accented eyelashes. Both possessed droopy ears and...were they nuzzling each other's noses? Sergio knew there was loving somebody dearly, but being affectionate in the middle of a potential battle with someone who threatens the land's security was just crossing a line.  
  
"I'm jest a--" Sergio stopped himself. He wanted to convince them that he was a stray dog, taking advantage of their poor eyesight. But wouldn't dog sounds be more realistic in that regard?   
  
He gave a semi-realistic bark, sounding more like a puppy than an adult. What else did dogs do? Hmm...they sniffed each other, right? Maybe getting close to them would work out. He chanced a step forward.   
  
"Let's kick human tail!" the male dog declared.  
  
"(Do humans have tails?)"  
  
A beam of light surrounded both of the guard dogs before magical...hearts appeared in front of them. _Hearts._ These two couldn't get any more nauseatingly lovey-dovey. Before they got close, Sergio noticed half of them were blue. Why did that seem familiar to him?  
  
The hearts spun in a large circle, coming towards him. Sergio could only back up so far before he reached the edge of the clearing, almost falling off. He bent his body forward in urgency, unable to avoid one of the blue hearts that hit him.  
  
Or, at least, should have hit him. When he regained stability, he had remained still. The blue heart passed through him without hurting him. He felt the front of his jacket. No damage.   
  
 _"Simple, right? When fighting, just think of blue stop signs."  
  
Now _it made sense! Sergio gave a triumphant "Haha!" and reminded himself to thank Sans later. Remembering the ruse he needed to employ, he gave two short, distressed barks in response to the attack.  
  
The dogs both stuck their heads out and sniffed the human. Realization sparked in their eyes.   
  
"What! Smells like a...."  
  
"(Are you actually a little puppy?)"  
  
Sergio didn't know what to say, so he answered with another bark. _Aight, so dogs lick each otha, right? Ain't no way I'mma do that. Pettin' 'em seems ta do work with 'em, though...._  
  
He tentatively walked toward them, panting with his tongue out for good measure. He was right-handed, so he pet the dog on the right first, right between the ears.   
  
"(A dog that pets dogs? Amazing!)"   
  
"What about me...?" said the male dog, hurt jealousy tinged in his voice. Sergio responded with a gentle stroke on the male dog's pate, its eyes perking up once more. "Wow! Pet by another dog!"  
  
Sergio exhaled when the area became lighter. He was in the clear.   
  
"A dog that pets other dogs....Amazing!" The male dog gave a goofy grin at his discovery.  
  
"(A new world has been opened up for us...)" concurred the female dog, sharing in her husband's enthusiasm. The sign Sergio read earlier and the pure affection they showed for each other pretty much confirmed that they were hitched; he could see why there was a warning about it.   
  
"Thanks, weird puppy!" Hand in hand did the two guard dogs return to whence they came. Sergio was dumbstruck at the results. He was three for three (technically, four for four) in his encounters with potentially hostile dogs in this place, and he didn't even have to go through the trouble of fighting them! What was better was that if these dogs were members of the Royal Guard, then his ruses had a chance of making a good impression with the king!   
  
Unable to contain his energy, he performed a Harlem shake dance on the spot and stepped out of the clearing with a newfound energy. For only being down here for--what was the time? Ten till 11--about nine hours, he was starting to get the hang of this monster thing. The "harmless human" ruse was going to work like a charm.   
  
The next puzzle, which involved hitting two "X"-shaped platforms and pressing a button, deactivated another spike mechanism when solved. Sergio met Papyrus as soon as he passed over the spike mechanism.  
  
"What?! How did you avoid my trap?!"  
  
"Don't tell me you thought I'd be hung up by frozen spaghetti, playboy. Ya 'trap' couldn'ta stopped a parked car."  
  
"Your confidence in yourself is admirable, though thoroughly misplaced!" Papyrus exclaimed, puffing out his chest. "So far, I've been holding back in this game of intellect we're engaged in! But no more! Since you were taking a long time to arrive, I improved the next puzzle! Now the snow looks more like my face! However, the snow froze, and the solution is completely different! Although my lazy brother Sans is nowhere to be found, I'll...actually, I'll let _you_ solve this, since you're so confident! Nyeh-heh-heh!"  
  
The puzzle up ahead only looked more complex because there were more "X"-platforms. Sergio popped his collar and said, "Watch me."  
  
Solving the puzzle was easier said than done; he found out that one could step on a platform more than once, producing shapes other than circles, his objective. Accustomed to the facile puzzles earlier, he thought he could progress by going through this puzzle quickly and without effort. This one, however, showed that Papyrus had some sort of ingenuity when it came to tasks like this.   
  
It was his sixth attempt at the puzzle when he eventually solved it. A hearty cachinnation escaped his chest. "Killed ya puzzle without no help! Where are you at?!" he provoked.   
  
"Incredible, I'm impressed!" answered Papyrus with an honestly intrigued tone. "You must care about puzzles like I do!"   
  
The triumph vanished from Sergio's expression. "Actually--"  
  
"Well, I'm sure you'll love the next puzzle, then! It might even be too easy for you!"   
  
"That ain't what I--"  
  
But Papyrus had already jaunted forward. Sergio's in-your-face reaction must have been perceived as wholehearted enjoyment for puzzles. Did he accidentally sign himself up for more pointless trials like this?  
  
"Well, someone looks like he's having fun," said Sans, somehow appearing beyond the spike mechanism.  
  
"Where you comin' from?" asked Sergio quizzically.   
  
"What do you mean? I've just been here."  
  
"I ain't seen you go the route I been goin'. You gon' be doin' this teleportation crap the whole time?"  
  
"Teleportation? I don't know what you're talking about." The skeleton's face betrayed nothing, but he certainly sounded as though he was hiding something.   
  
 _Yep, he can teleport,_ concluded Sergio when he went into the next area, which was...distinctive. Beyond a small bridge was a blocky layout that reminded him of color bar test patterns on a TV, except all the blocks were varying shades of grey. Papyrus was there, standing right next to a metal box of some sort, which made sense; Sergio saw him walking this way after solving the last puzzle. Sans stayed where he was when Sergio walked on, and here he was standing next to his brother.   
  
The taller skeleton looked happy to see Sergio. "Hey! It's the human! You're gonna love this puzzle! It was made by the great Dr. Alphys! You see these tiles? Once I throw this switch, they will begin to change color! Each color has a different function!"  
  
He went on to explain the different functions of the colors, with red tiles being impassable, pink ones having no effect, yellow ones being electric, and so on. All these colors and functions floating around in Sergio's head slowly overwhelmed him, so he just hoped for pink tiles being within jumping distance of one another.   
  
"How was that?! Understand?" Papyrus asked with excitement.  
  
 _No,_ thought Sergio, _but I_ do _undastand that you insane._  But he figured a second explanation would only further confuse him. He stared at the tiles, expectant of mental toil and physical pain.   
  
"One more thing. This puzzle is completely random! When I pull this switch, it will make a puzzle that has never been seen before! Not even I will know the solution! Nyeh-heh-heh!"  
  
It was nearly impossible to ignore the nagging sense of dread held within him. Sergio shook his head and clenched his jaw. Nothing this skeleton could produce would be insurmountable. Nothing this skeleton could do would be dangerous.  
  
 _Nothing_ would stop Sergio from getting to Asgore, defeating Flowey, and getting back home.  
  
Papyrus hit a combination of buttons on the grey box beside him. The tiles lit up in their varied colors. Papyrus turned to the tiles in anticipation. They flashed in different colors, the rate of change steadily increasing until....  
  
A streak of pink appeared in the middle of two wide red bars. Sergio stared at the tiles, his mouth agape, dumbfounded. He produced an empty chuckle as he walked across.   
  
"I'mma become a lunatic down here," he told himself. "I'mma go crazy." He felt a bit of solace in this respite of psychological strain from the randomized "puzzle" Papyrus had shown off. All the stress Sergio felt and the preparation he put in himself was all for nothing. More and more he was convinced that Sans had been telling the truth about Papyrus's true nature; all the danger Sergio felt from his presence had completely dissipated at this point.   
  
Sans seemed to enjoy Sergio's reaction to all of this, as if glad to see that Sergio was deriving joy from Papyrus's antics. The human certainly wouldn't have called it joy, but rather a measured descent into madness. _Maybe insanity is what's needed ta fit in 'round here.  
  
_ He received a moment's reprieve from nonsense when he found another empty sentry station further in the path. The shield dog from before was intently staring at a cylindrical pile of snow, completely unarmed. Sergio approached a sophisticated-looking deer monster wearing a purple sweater.  
  
"That dog considers itself an artist, but doesn't ever know what to create," it spoke in a plummy voice, its eyes glazed in a bored expression. "It probably doesn't help that its brain is the size of a kibble."  
  
Sergio couldn't really argue with that. If somebody like the easily excitable shield dog could land a spot in Asgore's royal guard, Papyrus shouldn't have had any trouble.   
  
After going through a significantly easier platform puzzle and escaping a brolic armored dog, Sergio made his way across a long, rickety bridge. Of course, his sense of balance kept him from any real danger, but he also felt that the bridge was just as atmospheric as it was functional. Perhaps on the other side he'd finally get to see Snowdin Town. He'd always lived in a city, more like a metropolis, but he'd heard of towns; they were just smaller versions of cities, weren't they? And weren't small places like that supposed to be friendlier than big cities? Smaller population, everybody knew everybody, that sort of thing?   
  
Then he found the skeleton brothers waiting for him on the other side. He stared at Papyrus defiantly, but not out of rudeness; it was the sort of stare one would give to a friend if he or she knew the friend was up to something.  
  
"Human! This is your final and most dangerous challenge!" Relief from "final," apathy at "most dangerous." "Behold, the gauntlet of deadly terror!"   
  
Sergio heard mechanical whirring all around him. An assortment of dangerous gadgets appeared on all sides of the bridge: a flail hung from a chain above it; an activated flamethrower was aimed at him, along with two spear projectile devices near the sides of the bridge; past these objects were a cannon and...a white dog hanging from the rope, obviously the most insidious instrument of human destruction in the bunch.  
  
The human had to admit, this puzzle--deathtrap, more like--was more impressive than the ones he'd gone through earlier. The gauntlet presented an actual, lethal hazard to him, and he saw no way he could squirm out of this one. There wasn't a trace of spite or disdain in his expression, but rather despair. His brown eyes flicked from one deadly item to the next, Sergio's mouth agape.   
  
"When I say the word, it will fully activate! Cannons will fire! Spikes will swing! Blades will slice! Each part will swing violently! Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain! Are you ready?!" Papyrus called.  
  
He clenched his fists and stared at Papyrus with his signature defiance, clenching his fists. He was close to soiling his pants from trepidation, but he would not let the skeleton think he'd won for one second. Also, he didn't want the bravado he had built up to be completely wasted now.   
  
"Because I! Am! About! To do it!" The will to go through with it slowly left Papyrus's face. The traps remained stationary for a moment. Then the taller skeleton turned around.   
  
"Well? What's the holdup?" Sans asked his brother.  
  
"Holdup?! What holdup?!" Papyrus's voice quavered. "I'm...I'm about to activate it now!" He faced Sergio again, the human calculating the chance of survival if the traps started moving.   
  
There was silence, save for the crackling fire of the flamethrower and the flail chain clanking from the small breeze. Sergio too wondered about the cause of Papyrus's hesitation.   
  
"That, uh, doesn't look very activated," Sans commented.   
  
"Well!" Papyrus interjected, uncertainly laced within his tone. "This challenge...may be too easy to defeat the human with. Yeah! We can't use this one!" Sureness returned to his voice. "I am a skeleton with standards! My puzzles are very fair, and my traps are expertly cooked, but this method is too direct! No class at all! Away it goes!"  
  
As easily as they came, the dangerous mechanisms disappeared to...frankly, Sergio didn't know where they all came from. While other monsters had fire, pellets, and (he shuttered) hearts to display, Papyrus must have possessed the ability to summon puzzle objects out of thin air. What was it that Sans said about his brother? _He's not dangerous, even if he tries to be._ Well, if that wasn't dangerous, what was? This wouldn't have been the first time standards of what was threatening and what wasn't varied between humans and monsters.   
  
His muscles relaxed, Sergio sighed with relief. Pausing to check if the gauntlet items would come back somehow, he started stepping across the bridge.   
  
Papyrus put his arms akimbo. "What are _you_ looking at?! This was another decisive victory for Papyrus! Nyeh-heh...heh?" Even the skeleton's laugh sounded diffident. Papyrus's mouth was always smiling as expected of a skeleton, but the eye sockets thinned, as if he was asking himself why he cancelled the latest puzzle.   
  
"Oldboy ova there got me sweatin' in the middle a' winta," Sergio told Sans, pulling the top of his jacket back and forth to fan himself. "Anythang else he plannin' ta do ta me?"  
  
"I don't know what my brother's gonna do now. If I were you, I'd make sure I understand blue attacks."  
  
A lightbulb. "Oh, yeah, that happened ta me a little while ago. Passed through me cleanly." He felt an opening in the pit of his stomach. He ignored it and lightly tapped Sans's shoulder. "Good lookin' out."   
  
The skeleton responded with a wink. "You should be all right, then."  
  
"How much furtha ta Snowdin Town?"   
  
"Oh, that? That's a few paces forward. You'll find it soon."  
  
Few paces, huh? Sans had no reason to lie about that. Matter of fact, Sergio couldn't recall the last thing he lied about.   
  
 _When you meet them, don't be afraid to trust them._  
  
It felt somewhat out of place, but he flashed a lopsided smile at the skeleton before walking on.   
  
A minute later, the area became much more lit than in the forest. The trees were thinning out, prompting Sergio to look up into the sky. Then he remembered: underground, no sky. _That's kinda depressin'._ But any downers to his mood were lifted posthaste when he found a large banner that read, "Welcome to Snowdin!" Beyond that was a comfortable-looking cabin, its lights still on. He bounced with his steps now, laughing with joy at his discovery. For what felt like hours he'd been outside in the cold and unfriendly temperatures that matched his usual mood. Now, he felt as though his troubles were about to cease, albeit for a short while.   
  
The cabin had two divisions: one for a shop, and another for an inn. He had nothing to buy or sell, so he headed for the inn, stomping the snow off his feet before heading in. He slowly exhaled at the sensation of warm air, one he gradually thought he wouldn't feel again.   
  
The lobby had a beige-looking floor and a red couch near the right wall. The lady at the main desk was a perky pink rabbit with a merry grin on her face. _Service wit a smile, I guess._ On the rabbit's left side was a smaller white rabbit, likely a son or other figure she was taking care of.   
  
"Welcome to Snowed Inn, Snowdin's premier hotel! One night is 80 gold pieces!" the rabbit greeted as Sergio slowly approached the front desk. The human didn't know what tricks were up her sleeve. He half expected the hotel lobby to become dark and his heart to appear on his jacket at any point in time. However, the lighting remained normal, indicating that the rabbit harbored no ill intentions. The friendly manner in which she presented herself was also refreshing; so far, this was the fourth or fifth monster who didn't immediately attack him with magic. In fact, she didn't even act as though Sergio was a human, as everyone else. She only saw him as another traveler.    
  
The human stopped in his tracks when he heard the price. "I ain't got the money," he said, disappointment tinged in his voice. How could he be so foolish? Of course he'd have to pay in order to stay in there. Monsters were different, but cash still ruled.  
  
The rabbit looked upon him with sympathy. "You don't even have 80 gold pieces? Oh, you poor thing! I can only imagine what you've been through."  _Aight, you can lose the condescendin' attitude, partna._ Sergio kept his expression neutral. "One of the rooms upstairs is empty. You can sleep there for free, okay?"  
  
His countenance shifted from neutral to grateful. His attempt to speak only came out in an empty breath. Finally, he said, "Appreciate it, ma'am! You the real MVP!" Her smile widened at his appreciative attitude, despite not knowing what "MVP" meant.   
  
He walked up the staircase and searched for any hotel door that said "vacant." He found one, then realized he didn't even get a key. Was there a mistake?  
  
 _Click!_ The door opened. Guess not.  
  
Within seconds, he had taken off his wet shoes, his jacket, and backpack, and crawled into the covers of the bed, lying on his side. He wasn't exactly sleepy, nor did he need to rest off any pain. His primary objective was to get himself warmed up before braving the cold conditions again.  
  
A loud snore emanated a door down. A snore of a different tone then resonated. _Three_ snoring tones were coming from the next room, establishing a consistent wall of noise that Sergio thought would prevent any kind of sleeping. It may have just been Sergio's continued descent into madness, but eventually the snores had a certain tune to them. Was it an a cappella group practicing in their sleep?   
  
Somehow, he was able to overcome the droning snores from the next room and doze off, albeit for a short time. He had woken up 30 minutes later, the other room silent; perhaps the a cappella group had woken up at about the same time as he did. He pulled his clothes back on and moved to the hotel room's bathroom. He washed his face with soap and water, just then remembering the shielded dog's enthusiasm to meeting him.   
  
After heading downstairs, he bade farewell to the rabbit at the front desk and steeled his nerves as he approached the exit. _Outta the warm hotel and into the cold abyss._  
  
He took a deep breath. Then he opened the door.

* * *

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"Human....Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings."_

_.     .     ._

_"I'll have to take the human's soul myself!"_

_"But Undyne, you don't have to destroy him!"_

_.     .     ._

_"What'd you do to get her attention?"_

_"WWB."_

_.     .     ._

_"Don't lie ta me, Papyrus. I can hear it in ya voice."_


	4. Chapter 4

Sergio subconsciously expected a Christmas tree to be set up somewhere in this town. It fit right in with the overall friendly feeling the town produced. Maybe they were in the Christmas spirit, even though on the surface, Christmas was around four months away. Somebody was stuffing presents underneath it, and...was a rabbit walking a smaller rabbit on a leash? Creepy.   
  
He passed by an armless, yellow monster kid wearing a striped sweatshirt, horns down the back of its head. It turned around when Sergio was in its line of sight.   
  
"Yo! You're a kid too, right?" the monster said. Sergio stopped to look at him.  
  
"Uh...yeah, I guess?" _That_ question came out of nowhere.  
  
"You're not wearing a striped shirt, but I could tell 'cause you aren't as tall as the grown-ups."  
  
He clenched his jaw. "Gee, thanks." _Kids._  
  
Sergio stopped walking and smelled the scents coming from the restaurant nearby. _Mmm...._ It smelled of grilled burgers, steaks, and other delightfully greasy items. What he wouldn't give to indulge in some tenderloin steak right about then....If only he had the money.   
  
After passing by a library labeled "Librarby" and what looked like Sans and Papyrus's home (given the names on the mailboxes), there was a sudden decrease in temperature and visibility. "Aw, jeez," Sergio griped as he pulled the hood over his head, folding his arms. He began squinting in order to see through the sudden fog. He didn't even ask himself why the fog suddenly appeared; questions, it seemed, would only lead to more questions.  
  
Then he could make out the dark outline of his favorite puzzle-making skeleton. _He_ must have had something to do with this.   
  
"Human," Papyrus began. "Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings, feelings like the admiration of another's puzzle-solving skills, the desire to have a cool, smart person think you're cool. They must be what you are feeling right now! I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel that way. After all, I am very great. I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like."  
  
"Ah! Stop right there, playa pimp. I'mma have ta call bull crap on that one. Dat's the whole reason you tryna capture me. It ain't because _I_ did somethin' wrong, but ratha, _you_ tryna get ya self in the Royal Guard. If you do, you'll finally get people ta be ya friend. What was it you said in the last chapta? You wanna be bathed in a showa a' kisses every mornin'? Since you only dreamin' 'bout that, I bet that ain't even a reality!"  
  
Papyrus stuttered. If Sergio could see his face, he'd bet the skeleton would be looking left and right, trying to think of a comeback.   
  
"Tell me it ain't so, Papyrus!" Sergio went on, chuckling.   
  
"I...I have no idea what you're talking about!" Papyrus stumbled with his words, then quickly recovered. "I am certain you place these assumptions on me because deep down, you feel lonely!"  
  
Sergio could have masked his emotions without the fog assisting him. Confidently, he replied "Boy, you reachin'!"  
  
"Reaching, yes, reaching out to you! You see, you need not be lonely any longer! I, the great Papyrus, will be your...." His voice trailed off.   
  
Sergio made a rotating motion with his finger. "Go on...?"  
  
"No, this isn't right! I can't be your friend! You are a human! I must capture you! Then, I can fulfill my lifelong dream! Powerful! Popular! Prestigious! That's Papyrus, the newest member of the Royal Guard!"  
  
The good news was that Sergio could easily see Papyrus now. The bad news, everything else became dark.  
  
Sergio's jocular attitude quickly vanished as he sized up the now-aggressive skeleton. He could only imagine what Papyrus's attacks would be. If anything, they'd probably be puzzles that'd kill him if he didn't solve them fast enough.   
  
"You ain't gotta do this if you fightin' wit ya self, Papyrus."  
  
"I must!" the skeleton shot back. He brought a hand back and made a pushing motion, summoning three bones from out of nowhere and casting them at the human.  The bones moved slowly, and Sergio barely had to move in order to avoid them.   
  
The caped being _did_ attack, but it wasn't enough to warrant retaliation. Perhaps Sergio could convince him to stop fighting. With that pathetic display, he figured it wouldn't take much effort. Though the skeleton's teeth were clenched, his eye sockets looked unsure.   
  
Thinking about it, he realized how similar Papyrus's situation was to his own. The skeleton had a dilemma: He could either do what would get him well-known, or he could do what his conscience told him. Furthermore, it was a decision like that that had gotten Sergio into this underground in the first place. The skeleton probably wasn't the first person he'd met down here with a situation like that, but it was the first time he'd thought about such a thing.  
  
His decision had been in the back of his mind since his fall. Reconciliation was next to impossible with his "friends." And his mother? Out of the equation entirely. But if forgiveness _was_ an option, wouldn't he seek it?  
  
In the middle of that thought sequence, he subconsciously moved his hand toward his hip. He shifted it slightly before saying, "Cain't we talk somethin' out?" A feeble attempt at pacifism, but it was better than nothing.  
  
"Talk? Uh, s-sure, sure thing!" Papyrus bumbled out. _Wait, so you serious--_ "After I capture you!"  
  
Sergio sighed. _Guess he cain't say I ain't give 'im a chance._ But it was foolish to unleash a Harlem-style butt-whoopin' on somebody who did the equivalent of shooting you with a water pistol. He had no drive to hurt the skeleton, and it looked as though the skeleton had no drive to hurt him as well. Whatever Papyrus's complex feelings were, they were surely doing Sergio a favor.   
  
"I don't even feel like fightin' you right now." Sergio crossed his arms, partly in insolence, partly in boldness.   
  
An "eyebrow" was raised on Papyrus's expression. "So, you won't fight? Then, let's see if you can handle my fabled 'blue attack!'" He made a pushing motion with both arms, casting bigger bones at the human. Sergio clenched his fists, then relaxed when he realized the bones were blue.   
  
 _"If I were you, I'd make sure I understand blue attacks,"_ Sans's voice sounded in his head.  
  
He looked at the bones as they harmlessly passed through him. Confident, he puffed out his chest as the onslaught continued, staring straight at Papyrus. The skeleton then pointed a finger like a gun at him, and Sergio felt himself being pushed back a few feet, causing two dragged footprints to appear in the snow.   
  
Sergio looked at his arms, his legs, his chest. His entire body looked blue. Otherwise, he was still unhurt.   
  
"Ha! Yo' magic cain't do nothin' ta me!"   
  
He spoke too soon, and he saw the bone coming from his left too late. He took a hit straight to the body, causing him to stagger to his right. He heard Papyrus's trademark laugh as he got hit.   
  
"You're blue now. That's my attack! Nyeh-heh-heh-heh-heh!"  
  
 _I_ know _this Skeletor-lookin' busta ain't jest do that._ He grasped the gun handle from his waistband, twirled the weapon, and caught the barrel. "Now you know you done messed up, right?" He dashed toward the skeleton, his gun arm extended to make a hit, but he felt a force pulling him at his center of gravity. He was repelled back to where he was when the bone hit him. Puzzled, he looked at Papyrus.  
  
"Your movement is severely limited when you're blue!" Papyrus explained, all the uncertainty disappearing from his face. There was no question now; he would stop at nothing to capture Sergio.   
  
But magic didn't hold Sergio back when fighting Toriel. Why would he let it stop him now?  
  
Papyrus cast a few more bones coming at Sergio from his right side, the human shifting forward to avoid the attacks. The force pulling him back was like a bungee cord strapped to his midriff. It must have been a defensive maneuver to prevent him from attacking Papyrus. But even bungee cords broke at some point....He'd need to run with more force to beat the magic.  
  
The skeleton's attacks kept coming at him, one of the bones grazing Sergio's back as he was being pulled backward. He fruitlessly clutched his injury, recalling that the magic attacked his essence instead of his body. His legs shoulder width apart, he burst forward against the invisible force, his movement gradually becoming slower. Papyrus looked concerned as the human approached striking distance, but sighed in relief as Sergio swung his pistol downward and missed his skull by inches. Sergio groaned as he was pulled backward.   
  
"Nyeh-heh-heh!" Papyrus taunted. _If only I had some hot rocks right now...._  
  
"Cool it wit dis blue nonsense and catch these hands like a man!" Sergio protested, spinning away from a couple more bones. "...Mista Royal Guard, my foot!" he added spitefully.  
  
"How selfless...." Papyrus's shoulders slumped, his smile fading. "You want me to feel better about fighting you....I don't deserve such hospitality from you!"  
  
The bones were coming in even faster, Sergio having to time running forward in order to pass through holes in the attacks and leaning back to avoid further damage. Another volley mixed in blue bones with white ones, forcing him to abruptly stop moving during the attack. A bit disoriented, Sergio forgot to remain still at one point, causing a blue bone to swipe him across the shins. He hit the snow and rolled back onto his feet. He was still in good fighting condition, but if many more of these attacks landed, he'd get a one-way ticket to a televised execution.  
  
"Yeah! Don't make me use my special attack!" Papyrus called out as Sergio analyzed the battlefield. His eyes shifted from side to side before he witnessed a new series of attacks. He ran forward, side-stepped, and rolled backwards at different intervals. With Papyrus's attack patterns, it was getting impossible to retaliate.   
  
If only this invisible bungee cord went away....Sergio was sure that he could have broken the blue mode with one clean swipe across the jaw. When he was disoriented, Sergio could have pushed him down into the river and run from the scene, one step closer to his freedom. But Papyrus saw this battle coming from every angle and prevented any sort of thing like that. He had to admit, Papyrus was a better fighter than a puzzle-maker.  
  
"If ya special attack is anythang like ya puzzles, I'll still be standin'!"  
  
"Is that so?" However, the next attack was anything but special. Sergio completely avoided all of the bones that flew toward him. He felt he was getting the hang of it now. What seemed like an awkward shuffling motion to dodge attacks now felt like an elegant dance in the face of danger.   
  
"I can almost taste my future popularity! Papyrus: Head of the Royal Guard! Papyrus: Unparalleled Spaghettore!"  
  
"Jest keep tellin' ya self that as you keep missin' me wit ya magic, Papyrus."   
  
Sergio's predictions had come true with the next two volleys. Despite his unsuccessful attempts at hitting him, Papyrus's confidence was unwavered.   
  
"Undyne will be really proud of me! The King will trim a hedge in the shape of my smile!"  
  
"Ain't gonna happen, I'm tryna tell you," Sergio remarked, a disrespectful smile on his face now. Despite his lingering injuries, he felt as though he was dancing circles around Papyrus now, even if he didn't land a single hit on the skeleton. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Papyrus's attacks were decreasing in intensity.   
  
Another volley. Another series of shuffles. This was getting too easy.   
  
"My brother will...well, he won't change very much," Papyrus admitted. "I'll have lots of admirers, but, how will I know if people secretly like me?"  
  
Whoa. This was a change of pace. "You won't." Sergio put away any intentions of joking or deception. He could speak with firsthand knowledge about how it was nearly impossible to know who truly liked you when you were popular.   
  
Papyrus sighed. "Someone like you is really rare. You're telling me the truth, even though it's not what I'd want to hear." _Is he stoppin' this nonsense now?_ The skeleton's shoulders slumped again and continued with his introspection. "I don't think they'll let you go after you're captured and sent away...."  
  
Sergio temporarily let his guard down and commented, "Glad you could see it from a brotha's perspective."  
  
Papyrus's head jolted as he shook the thoughts away. "Urgh! Who cares? Just give up!" The skeleton pointed another finger at Sergio. The human remained blue, but he felt a downward pull instead of a backwards one. What was Papyrus trying to do?  
  
The skeleton sent bones head-on instead of at the sides, forcing Sergio to jump over them. His sideways movement was restricted, leaving him with a linear path on which to move.   
  
"Give up, or face my special attack!"  
  
"Do it, busta!" With the way Papyrus was building this up, Sergio thought the special attack would either spell the end of Sergio's life, or the end of the battle. Papyrus was NOT getting him killed today.   
  
Sergio's retort had staggered Papyrus, his expression turning to one of shock. "You...want me to do it now?"  
  
"Wit you talkin' all dat noise about it, ya piqued my interest. You wouldn't wanna leave me hangin', now wouldja?"  
  
His "eyebrows" furrowed, Papyrus slowly moved his arms. "Behold, my special attack!" He made a pushing motion with his arms, and...nothing happened. The skeleton opened his eyes in confusion. Sergio pointed to a dog standing beside him, happily munching on a large bone.   
  
Papyrus turned to it. "What the heck? That's my special attack! Hey, you stupid dog!" The dog went bug-eyed, giving its full attention to the enraged skeleton. "Do you hear me?! Stop munching on that bone!" The canine then slowly moved away, the bone tightly grasped in its jaw.   
  
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Papyrus called after it, turning his body towards the fleeing dog. "Come back here with my special attack!"  
  
Sergio nodded at the dog and laughed. He figured that befriending the two lover-dogs from earlier had this effect. He would make sure to treat well every dog he met after that point.   
  
"Oh well. I'll just use a really cool regular attack," Papyrus concluded. He sighed. "Here's an absolutely normal attack."  
  
Sergio jumped over two bones that came from the front, then did the same with bones from the back. A bone from the front and back came at him, both about 10 feet tall. It was doubtful, but Sergio jumped anyway. He cleared them both, despite feeling the pulling sensation in the pit of his stomach. He ducked after he jumped to avoid bones that shifted in elevation.   
  
"Aight, where's the hard part?" Sergio bragged. As soon as he said that, a large wall of bones came at him. Papyrus's "blue" attack was supposed to pull him down, but it somehow increased his jumping ability. A wall like this wouldn't be a problem for him.  
  
He ran, crouched, then bounded forward, willing himself to move forward in the air to miss the bone wall. However, the blue attack forced him downward into the wall. He kicked off the tip of a bone, pain shooting up in his foot, to regain elevation. Just then, a bone about two stories high formulated in front of him, and the pull at his stomach was increasing.   
  
"GYAAAH!" Sergio screamed as he fought against the resistance. The bone was getting closer, closer....He did a front flip over the bone before it could hit him in the legs. He stuck the landing on the snow as he perceived a slow-moving bone about knee-high coming towards him. Gasping for breath, he performed a short bunny hop over it, collapsing to the snow as he landed. The blue attack had left him extraordinarily fatigued after fighting the resistance at his stomach. He pushed himself up to a kneeling stance, then struggled to stand on both feet.  
  
"I know you was--tryna kill me and all dat--but _that_ was pretty cool."  
  
Surprisingly, Papyrus looked out of breath as well, his body slightly lowered. Huffing, he said, "Well--it's clear--you can't--defeat me!"  
  
"Sure you ain't got that the otha way around?" Sergio responded, smirking.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure! Look at you, shaking in your boots! Therefore I, the great Papyrus, elect to grant you pity! I will spare you, human! Now's your chance to accept my mercy!"  
  
"That's the--best news--I done heard all day," Sergio panted, about to stuff the gun in his waistband. _Hol' up._ "This ain't a trick, is it?"  
  
"Why would I lie about this?" Papyrus answered.  
  
Well, there was one thing that couldn't lie. If he stashed his pistol, whether or not the heart was still on his jacket would tell all.   
  
He took the chance. He lifted the side of his jacket and stuck the pistol in his waistband. The bright color returned to the area.   
  
Papyrus had his back turned to Sergio, his arms crossed. "Nyoo hoo hoo..." he moaned, "I can't stop someone as weak as you...."  
  
"Ay, a weak person wouldn'ta survived that. I went through the _ruins_ , bruh. You think I'd go down that easy?"  
  
"You may have a point," Papyrus conceded, "but Undyne will be so disappointed in me. I'll never join the Royal Guard, and my friend quantity will remain stagnant!"  
  
 _This boy ova here nearly killed a brotha, and he worried 'bout popularity?_ Papyrus wasted so much of Sergio's time by attacking him, and he managed to get a few hits in. To be honest, Sergio should have taken the opportunity to smack the sucker upside the head a couple hundred times until his skull shattered like a fallen vase.   
  
But after seeing Papyrus so dejected like this, and also remembering how similar they both were, could he really do that to the skeleton? It was obvious Papyrus wasn't aggressive now, so would hurting him be necessary?  
  
"If ya have ta hurt people ta make more friends, I'd say it ain't worth it," Sergio said, crossing his arms. "You can trust me on that one."  
  
"You...you sound...relatively calm, human. Even after I attacked you. Why?" Papyrus stared at Sergio, desperate for an answer.  
  
"'Cause somehow I respect ya. You was crossed with a hard decision ta make. You coulda gone against what was popula and what was conscientious. Believe me, I know betta than anyone else how that feels. Am I still mad at cha? Yes. Am I gon' hold onta that beef?" He took a few steps forward. "Not if you'll stop tryna capture me."  
  
Papyrus blinked at him before saying, "You are willing to let bybones be bybones?"  
  
"Uh, sure?"  
  
The skeleton nodded. "You taught me a lot, human. I hereby grant you permission to pass through! And I'll give you directions to the surface. Continue forward until you reach the end of the cavern. Then, when you reach the capital, cross the barrier."  
  
"Barrier?"  
  
"That's the magical seal trapping us all underground. Anything can enter through it, but nothing can exit...except someone with a powerful soul, like you!"   
  
Sergio snapped his fingers. "So that's why humans is bein' hunted down 'round here. Y'all tryna get outta here."  
  
"Exactly!" Papyrus's face brightened. "The king wants to open the barrier with soul power! Then we can return to the surface! Oh, and, to reach the barrier, you'll have to go through the king's castle. The king of all monsters...." He stopped dramatically, looking into the distance. "He is...well...he's a big, fuzzy pushover! Everybody loves that guy! I am certain if you just say, 'Mr. Dreemurr, can I please go home?', he'll guide you right to the barrier himself!"  
  
"Was he a 'big, fuzzy pushova' when he killed them six kids?" Sergio questioned, crossing his arms. He could easily recall Toriel's admonition before he left the ruins.   
  
"That's a common misconception. Asgore never killed any humans. He merely collected their souls."  
  
"Gee, that'll help me sleep at night."  
  
"Anyway! I've talked long enough! I'll be at home being a cool friend! Feel free to come by and hang out!" Papyrus then walked past Sergio and disappeared over the horizon.   
  
Now Sergio had two choices. He could charge through the rest of the underground and face off against Asgore (with the way Papyrus gave directions, it seemed as if the capital was right around the corner), or he could "hang out" with someone who was trying to kill him. There were still the injuries he sustained throughout the battle, so maybe a hangout could heal him up before fighting the king of monsters.  
  
Plus, it was another diversion to get him out of the freezing cold.   
  
Slightly limping, he backtracked toward Snowdin Town and found Papyrus standing outside his front door. The skeleton enthusiastically waved at him and invited him inside. Sergio kicked the snow from his shoes, reached for the doorknob, and opened the door.  
  
The living room had a blue and purple striped carpet floor, a green couch beside the entrance wall, and a high-definition TV across the couch. An inexplicable dirty sock lay beside the television with a series of notes on it. Across the entrance was the kitchen.  
  
"Welcome to scenic my house! Enjoy and take your time!" Papyrus greeted.  
  
Sergio ascended the staircase on the left side of the room and found two bedroom doors. One had a stop sign and police tape plastered onto it. The other was normal...if not for the flames visible from the cranny at the bottom of the door.  
  
"Uh, one a' yo' bedrooms is on fire!" Sergio called.   
  
"Don't mind that, it's Sans's room. Heaven knows what he does in there," Papyrus dismissed. "If you've finished looking around, we could go to my room and...do whatever it is that friends do when hanging out?"  
  
 _Huh._ Sergio didn't think this all the way through. Once he was granted access to Papyrus's home, what did he plan to do? His idea of hanging out used to be chilling at a gangster's crib and trying to ignore the clouds of marijuana floating around him while others conspired about killing a rival gang member in a drive-by shooting. This situation, however, was quite different.  
  
His eyebrows raised when he realized what they could do. "I got an idea...."  
  
 **.     .     .**  
  
"...so, you do like six or eight a' them songs, howeva many you want, put 'em togetha in one disc, and you have a mixtape," Sergio finished explaining. He and Papyrus were in the latter's room, Sergio on the other's computer visiting the monster equivalent of Google that featured a rectangular robot as a mascot.  
  
"This mixtape will make me even more popular on the internet?" Papyrus asked, stroking his mandible.  
  
"Worth a shot. It done worked for a lotta people on the surface." Sergio typed in a search query, clicked twice, and downloaded a voice recording application.   
  
"So, this 'rapping,' it is like singing, but without tonal pitches?"   
  
"That's the gist of it." Sergio plugged in a microphone into a USB port. "I'mma show you how ta spit bars and keep the flow goin'." He hit the space bar to play a beat, letting the music play for a few measures.  
  
 _"This is undaground rap, got the game down pat,_  
 _Takin' ya bars and crushin' 'em if they sound wack,_  
 _I done seen more than you did, and I'm jest fifteen,_  
 _Not a dairy farma, but I still get cream,_  
 _Got domes ta rip, my boy Pap got bones ta pick,_  
 _Livin' in Harlem, ya know I got homes ta lift,_  
 _Suckas, beware of the man in the purple hood,_  
 _Carryin' heat that when used will work ya good."_  
  
Sergio hit the pause button and handed the microphone to Papyrus. "Think you can top that?"  
  
Papyrus snatched the microphone from the other's hand, an impish smile across his face. "Your lyrics will have no chance to supersede the great Papyrus!"  
  
 **.     .     .**  
  
Fully healed from his wounds, Sergio closed the door behind him as he exited Papyrus's house. He left with the skeleton's phone number, which was a good sign. The time he put in to connect with him had to account for something. At least Sergio made _one_ friend down here.  
  
 _Nah, I ain't,_ Sergio denied. _He ain't a friend a' mine. Nothin' I said back there was genuine._  
  
He pondered about this as he continued down the trail. The main reason Sergio hung out was to get at least one person to vouch for him before he progressed. He didn't plan on getting caught, but if he did, somebody would stick up for him. The hangout was just a means to an end.   
  
So, did Sergio actually respect the skeleton? It was debatable. Sergio's one and only goal was to get out of here, and he'd do whatever was necessary in order to achieve said goal. If he needed to pretend to like people down here before he reached the promised land, so be it. He figured it would be best to get through this place as quickly as possible without forming any sort of relationship with the monsters. After getting out of here, would he see anyone down here again? No. So, if he didn't miss anybody, and nobody missed him, that'd be best for everyone.  
  
Besides that, didn't he make the mistake of trusting monsters enough times already? First, the flower tricked him into thinking the bullets were "friendliness pellets." Second, Toriel deceived him when she acted as though she wanted what was best for him. And now, Papyrus was wholly convinced that he made a friend, a human one, to boot. Well, Papyrus never lied to him yet, but Sergio wouldn't have put it past him.   
  
His discussion with Papyrus after their fight had told him that the monsters used to live on the surface. The human didn't know what happened that caused the monsters to live underground, but he'd bet his bottom dollar the humans had something to do with it, and for good reason. Monsters and humans were simply not meant to get along.  
  
Sergio passed the battlefield and continued onto a bluish trail that ran alongside a river, with large ice blocks floating across. While the river made a 90 degree turn to the left, the path kept forward. He found a few monsters ahead near a checkpoint stand. As he got closer, he found Sans at the stand, and the sound of rushing water got louder. What was strange was that Sans was just at his and Papyrus's house, plaguing the latter's mixtape with incidental lyrics. This skeleton couldn't tell him he couldn't teleport.  
  
The group was close to a waterfall leading down into the abyss below.  
  
"Yo, are you sneaking out to see her, too?"  
  
Oh, it was the armless monster kid again.   
  
"See who?" Sergio asked.  
  
"Uh, only the coolest person in the Royal Guard, Undyne? I wanna be just like her when I grow up. Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here," the kid added with a chuckle.  
  
"Only if ya don't tell Undyne I'm here."   
  
Sergio advanced to the checkpoint stand, a suspicious look on his face.  
  
"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" Sans said.  
  
"It ain't you havin' two jobs that worries me. It's you teleportin'."  
  
"Why do you keep assuming I can teleport?"  
  
"Was you not jest in ya house? Unless there's some undaground passageway I don't know about...." Behind Sans stood a wooden door. So, Sans may have simply taken a shortcut here. But he had his eye on the skeleton.... "Anyway, what's a dude like you doin' wit two jobs?"  
  
"Well, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks." Before Sergio could finish contemplating how jobs couldn't work like that, Sans said, "I'm going to Grillby's. Wanna come?"   
  
Grillby's? Was it that one barbecue restaurant Sergio walked past before fighting Papyrus? Sure, Sergio had no money, but if Sans was paying....  
  
"I thought you'd never ask."  
  
"Fine. I'll allow myself to be pried from my work," Sans added with a wink. He left the stand and walked forward down the path, Sergio following him. "Over here. I know a shortcut."  
  
The skeleton found his way to a beaten path on the right side of the trail, filled with twists and turns. Sergio was doubtful a shortcut like this would be swift until he and Sans were already at the restaurant's front door in half a minute. When they arrived, however, he couldn't remember anything about the shortcut.  
  
"Fast shortcut, eh? And you thought I just teleported everywhere," Sans teased, opening the door for Sergio. The human entered and felt the wood creak slightly under his footsteps. He was sure there was a fire crackling somewhere, but he didn't know....Oh. The guy at the counter had a head that was a flaming fireball.  
  
"Hi, everyone," Sans called out to the restaurant's customers.   
  
To Sergio's left, the entire squad of dog guards sat around a table, playing poker, it seemed, and the shield dog playing poker with itself. The lovesick dogs greeted the skeleton back. To his right, a monster whose entire face was a mouth returned the greeting, and a drunk-looking rabbit answered a bit flirtatiously.   
  
An asleep-looking fish said to Sans, "Weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"  
  
"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least a half hour. You must be thinking of brunch." The monsters surrounding the restaurant chortled.   
  
Sans led Sergio to two open stools at the bar counter. "Here, get comfy." Sergio walked toward his seat and stared at the spectacled, fire-headed worker as it wiped a few cups clean.  
  
So far, so good. A bunch of monsters could be tearing him apart right now, but everybody seemed to be preoccupied with something else. As long as they weren't all focused on him, Sergio could rest easily.  
  
As he sat down, Sergio heard a farting noise from beneath him. He scowled at Sans.  
  
"Whoops, watch where you sit. Sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."  
  
"Why I get the feelin' you'd be one a' those weirdos?"  
  
Sans responded with a laugh. "Anyway, whaddya want?" He slid a menu over to Sergio, who perused its items. Fries were the least expensive option, but a burger would be more filling. His stomach growled as he realized he didn't have breakfast.   
  
"Can I get a burga?"  
  
"Hey, that sounds pretty good right now." Sans turned his skull toward the fire-head. "Grillby, we'll have a double order of burg."  
  
After what looked like a nod, Grillby walked toward the kitchen door on the left. Sergio tapped his fingers on the table as they waited.  
  
"So, what do you think of my brother?" Sans asked, the question catching Sergio off guard. _Guess it's time ta fake it again._  
  
"Well, ya brother got bars, and he let me live. So, I'd say he's pretty cool."  
  
"Of course he's cool. You'd be cool, too, if you wore that outfit every day. He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to."  
  
"Hope he washes it."  
  
"Oh, he does, don't worry. And by 'washes it,' I mean he wears it in the shower."  
  
The kitchen door swung open, and Grillby emerged carrying two burgers on individual plates. He placed the food in front of the two.   
  
"Want some ketchup?" Sans asked, holding a red bottle. Sergio took it, flipped it downward, removed the top bun, and squeezed. The cap shot off, the bottle spilling its contents all over the burger.   
  
"Bruh!"   
  
"Whoops," Sans said. "Eh, forgeddaboudit." He slid his burger in front of Sergio. "You can have mine. I'm not hungry anyway."   
  
Sergio stared at the burger uncovered by ketchup and smiled at the skeleton. "Thanks, Sans." He certainly didn't have to fake _that_. He took a bite out of it, savoring the greasy, grilled taste of the hamburger. (At least, he thought it was from a cow. He was too hungry to worry about it too much.) The cheese, pickles, and onions were all combined together into one savory taste. He looked at Grillby and gave a thumbs up.  
  
"Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard, like how he keeps trying to be part of the Royal Guard. One day, he went to the house of the head of the Royal Guard, and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight." This warranted a chuckle from Sergio. "But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's, uh...still a work in progress."  
  
Sergio swallowed and stated, "Guess that's ta my benefit."  
  
"Yeah. Like I said, Papyrus isn't dangerous, even if he tries to be." _The wounds I felt prove ya wrong._  Sans scratched his skull, thinking of what to say next. "Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask you something."  
  
Sergio looked at him curiously, still eating. The area immediately around them remained the same, but the rest of the restaurant was darkened, and everybody seemed suspended in time. "Have you ever heard of a talking flower?"  
  
The human nearly choked on his food. He dropped the burger and replied, "YES. One of 'em tried to kill me soon as I fell down here!"  
  
"So you know all about it. The echo flowers. They're all over the marsh. Say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over...."  
  
"Oh," Sergio said, a bit disappointed. "We musta seen different kinds a' flowas. What's up with these echo flowas you talkin' about?"  
  
"Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. Sometimes, when no one else is around...." Sans leaned a bit closer to Sergio, making him slightly uncomfortable. "A flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement, predictions. Weird, huh? Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. Keep an eye out, okay?"   
  
"Oh, I'mma keep an eye out, trust," Sergio assured. "I get the feelin' I know exactly what you talkin' about."  
  
Sans closed his eyesockets. "Thanks, kid." Then everybody else started moving again as if nothing happened.   
  
As Sergio finished his meal, Sans got up from his stool. "Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long."  
  
"Somethin' tells me you woulda found somethin' ta distract ya self with," Sergio responded with a lopsided grin.   
  
Sans patted his jacket pockets. "Oh, by the way, I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill?"  
  
Brown eyes widened at the news. " _I_ definitely cain't pay it if _you_ cain't."  
  
"It's just 10,000 gold pieces."   
  
"Ten thousand?!" Sergio was panicking at this point, not noticing the attention he was getting from the other monsters. The music playing from the jukebox even stopped.   
  
The skeleton laughed. "Just kidding. Grillby, put it on my tab." Sans walked toward the exit, but his footfalls were slowing down until he turned around. "By the way," he called to Sergio. "I was gonna say something, but I forgot." He exited the restaurant.   
  
Before long, Sergio got back on the path to freedom. As he exited Snowdin, he noticed the much warmer temperature in the less-snowy area; therefore, he was able to unzip his jacket in case he needed to unsheathe his pistol again. He heard someone say to him, "Never trust a flower, that's one of the constants of this world." Sans told him that they should hang out again sometime. Past the checkpoint stand, Sergio found a large waterfall, with large boulders descending from it. The trail led to a wooden bridge that stood beside the waterfall, so Sergio took the precaution of avoiding the falling rocks.   
  
A tall, sky blue flower spoke in a frantic voice, "I swear I saw something beyond that rushing water!" What did Sans call these again?Echo flowers? So it wasn't the flowers speaking, but they were repeating what somebody said near it. Again avoiding the falling rocks, Sergio looked at whatever was on the other side of the waterfall.  
  
 _A camera? Aw, naw!_  
  
He was being watched, by whom, he couldn't tell. He picked up the pace and looked for a way out of there, which happened to be across the flat part of the waterfall. After getting his shoes wet, he found his shadow in front of him when he entered a darker part of the area. Ahead of him lay a patch of tall grass. He crouched as he went in, wary of other cameras potentially spying on him.   
  
He stopped in his tracks when he heard distant footsteps above him. It sounded like...  
  
"H...Hi, Undyne...." Papyrus's voice wavered from fear. "I'm here with my daily report! Uh, regarding the human I told you about earlier...."  
  
"Did you fight him?" a gruff female voice demanded.   
  
"Y-Yes! Of course I did! I fought him valiantly!"  
  
"Did you capture him?"  
  
"Well...I tried very hard, Undyne, but in the end...I failed." Sergio could feel the self-disappointment in Papyrus's voice.   
  
"Grr!" The "Undyne" character probably stomped her foot. "I'll have to take the human's soul myself!"  
  
"But Undyne, you don't have to destroy him! You see...." By the way Papyrus's speech ceased, Undyne must have looked at him with venom in her eyes. "I understand. I'll help you any way I can."  
  
 _Didn't ya just tell me you would stop huntin' me down, Papyrus?! I swear, you the most fickle monsta down here!_  
  
When all was silent, he took a step forward.   
  
"Hmm?!" Armor creaked above him. Undyne was watching the tall grass, no doubt. Sergio froze in place, holding his breath. It sounded as though a weapon was unsheathed.   
  
Five seconds.  
  
Ten seconds.  
  
Fifteen seconds.  
  
A few heavy footsteps. Sergio chanced a glance upward. Through the thick grass, he took note of the tall, armored being looking left and right, holding a long, glowing spear. After a few quiet moments, the figure vanished. Sergio let out a huge sigh, then got out of the grass.  
  
Another figure emerged from the grass. Sergio reached for his pistol.   
  
"Yo, did you see the way she was staring at you? That...was AWESOME! I'm so jealous! What'd you do to get her attention?"  
  
"WWB, walkin' while black," Sergio joked.   
  
"Come on, let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" The monster kid ran forward, then tripped. Undeterred, he got up and continued on.   
  
 _Heh-heh, poor kid. Oldboy got no arms ta balance himself wit._  
  
Ahead in the path was another waterfall. On the left side of the trail were "bridge seeds" that would sprout and allow him to cross the waterfall. He judged the distance from one side to the other.   
  
"Psh. I don't need them seeds."  
  
With a running start, he easily leapt across the gap and kept going. After crossing a bridge, he found an even smaller gap at the mouth of the next waterfall, bridge seeds on the ground close by. Whoever built this "puzzle" needed to gain some hops.   
  
The area went dark. Sergio turned around. It appeared to be an ever-flexing, buffed-out sea horse out of water with elegant, flowing hair and...how many abs did this guy have? It was a bodybuilder's dream.   
  
One thing he did know: The monster was currently aggressive. But if he learned anything while he was down here, it was that you could get any monster off your back without having to hit them. Peaceful behavior seemed especially necessary now that Undyne was around....  
  
What could shoo away the sea horse? A mischievous smile played across Sergio's lips. Guys like the sea horse had only one thing on their minds.  
  
"Oh, you think you brolic? Ya got nothin' on deez guns." Sergio took off his jacket and flexed his arm muscles. Never mind the fact that his arms were nowhere near as swollen as the sea horse's.   
  
"Flexing contest? Okay, flex more." The way the sea horse conveyed its speech sounded a little flirty and a lot creepy. It stretched its arms out and tightened its biceps, its arms enlarging to impossible sizes. The sea horse was flexing so hard, sweat seemed to be flying from its face. Sergio stepped back to avoid any of the sweat drops, recalling his encounter with the melancholy ghost.  
  
 _Aight, so it ain't attackin' me. Maybe I should keep flexin'._  
  
Sergio posed in the manner of Usain Bolt and stared at the sea horse. "Where you at with yours?" he challenged.  
  
"Nice! I won't lose, though."  
  
 _Cool it wit the flirtin', playboy. I am a GUY._  
  
The sea horse winked at Sergio before launching a fist in an uppercut, Sergio seeing the move coming and cutting to his left. It continued attacking, and Sergio continued dodging, until the human raised an eyebrow and wagged a finger at the other.   
  
"You think you so strong, but you cain't even hit me. You sure you won't lose dis contest?"  
  
It looked poised, but Sergio knew he was getting under its skin. With a huff, it strained its arms until they were the size of potato sacks. It flexed so hard, it forced itself out of the room.   
  
It wasn't the way Sergio intended, but he'd take it. He put his jacket back on and continued.  
  
After jumping across another rushing stream, he got a call on his cell phone. A fleeting thought hoped it would be Toriel. The number, however, was unfamiliar.   
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello! It is Papyrus!"  
  
He just remembered he didn't give his number to the skeleton.   
  
"How did you...?"  
  
"How did I get this number? It was easy! I just dialed every possible number sequentially until I got yours!"  
  
"Uh-huh...."  
  
"Anyway, what are you wearing?"  
  
 _Uh-oh._ "Who's askin'?"  
  
"I'm asking for a friend. She thought she saw you wearing a black T-shirt."  
  
"Would this friend happen ta be an armored, spear-wieldin' guard who got a vendetta against me and wants ta take my soul?"  
  
Papyrus hesitated. "N-no, of course not!"  
  
"Don't lie ta me, Papyrus." Sergio was about to mention how he heard the conversation between Papyrus and Undyne, but that would have given away his general position if Undyne truly was looking for him. "I can hear it in ya voice."  
  
"Um, you're...you're breaking up! I'll talk to you later!"  
  
 _Click!  
  
Uh-huh,_ Sergio thought as he put the phone back in his cargo pocket. _I know what's goin' down._  
  
He turned to the door at the corner of the room and entered a dark hallway, illuminated by blue echo flowers. As he walked through the hallway, the flowers spoke to him.   
  
"A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the night sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are sparkling stones on the ceiling...."  
  
"Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that."  
  
"Come on, sis! Make a wish!"  
  
"I wish my sister and I will see the real stars someday...."  
  
"Ah, seems my horoscope's the same as last week's...."  
  
Jeez, the talking flowers could make anyone go insane. And monsters thought the ruins were a scary place.  
  
As he progressed, a series of plaques on the wall caught his eye, detailing a war between humans and monsters. Apparently, both species lived together on the surface in harmony, but the humans attacked first for an unknown reason. The power of one human soul equaled just about the combination of all the monsters' souls.   
  
According to the plaques, a human soul could persist after death. Because of that, a monster could absorb a human soul, which spelled bad news even for the monsters. The last plaque was a disturbing illustration of what Sergio assumed was a monster who had absorbed a human soul.   
  
The bridge ended at a large body of water. The only way across was a small platform. Sergio hoped it would support his weight....  
  
It did. Even more surprising, it moved autonomously to the other side of the waterway. He hopped to the bridge on the other side and pushed forward. His footsteps echoed throughout the clearing as he traversed on the metallic bridge. Other than that, everything was silent....  
  
 _THUNK!_ A glowing spear landed in front of him, a chest hair away from impaling him.   
  
"WHOA!" Sergio raised his hands and looked up. Undyne stood on elevated ground, her armor gleaming from the stonelight.   
  
But the guard was free of weapons now. The "coolest person in the Royal Guard" missed her only chance of hitting him! "Ha!" Sergio made an L with his hand and moved it in front of his forehead. "You ain't killin' ME alive!"   
  
Undyne summoned three magical spears, all of which pointed at him. His eyes bucked, Sergio swore and immediately turned on his heel, sprinting on the bridge.

* * *

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"Miss me wit ya ruse, Papyrus. I_ know  _what's goin' down. This Undyne ain't no mutual friend of ours. She out ta_ kill  _me."_

_.     .     ._

_"If I survived Undyne twice in a row, I'mma be Swayze 'fore you know it!"_

_.     .     ._

_"Is there a problem?"_

_"I think I recognize you...."_


	5. Spears and Spirits

**Chapter 5: Spears and Spirits  
**  
Your local hood rat did his fair share of running from cops, rival gangsters, and angry shop owners. But being pursued by an angry guard wielding magical spears at least 1,000 feet underground was a deed he'd never foreseen undertaking.  
  
Guess the underground just kept getting better.  
  
"Holycrapholycrapholycrap!" Sergio shifted his view from the path in front of him to the spears being propelled at him, and vice versa; he was wary of his assailant anticipating his movement and casting a spear in front of his stride. When there was a small gap in the bridge, he would spring to the other side, not losing any momentum. When gaps weren't possible to clear quickly, Sergio cut corners. Every few seconds, he could feel the whizzing air from the missed spears. In his state of panic, he felt that Undyne's shots were getting closer and closer....  
  
After cutting the second corner, Sergio found three more spears flying toward him. He stopped on his toes, his arms flailing upward. The three spears passed in front of him, leaving him with no room to breathe. He turned the jets back on, still casting glances at Undyne.  
  
The ground she was standing on was absent on Sergio's left side. Even so, she attempted sniping him with her weapon. As he ran further, the shots became less and less accurate.   
  
_Oh, thank goodness._ Another large patch of tall grass stood in front of him. Sergio dived in it and crawled through it like a soldier in basic training, his elbows burning in his effort.   
  
Silence. Undyne must have stopped throwing spears.   
  
The silence was broken by her deliberate footsteps and the blades of grass scraping against her armor. _Aight, I need options._ Undyne's mass was increased with the armor, so moving through the grass wasn't a problem for her. However, all that heavy armor _had_ to slow her down to some degree. He could resume the escape, rendering the grass useless; crawling would make it shift, giving away his position. There was a chance Undyne _wouldn't_ find him there-- _Nah. I'd feel safer huntin' wit Dick Cheney._  
  
She was getting closer, closer....Sergio imagined himself five seconds from now, lying on his stomach, a blood-stained spear protruding from his back. What quip could he produce before death would take him to the everafter?  
  
He heard someone sniff to his left. He cocked his head to the sound's source and scanned a white horn poking through the grass near his face.   
  
_The monsta kid!_ What was _he_ doing here?  
  
_"Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her, too?" said the kid in his head._  
  
This boy right here was determined to see his idol. To be honest, his determination was respectable. But the kid would only get a front-row seat to Sergio's own execution.   
  
Unless....How could Sergio use the kid to his advantage?  
  
Undyne was practically standing on top of him now, her head bent downward as she perused the grass for a sign of Sergio's presence. If he even breathed, he would end up taking a dirtnap.   
  
_He approached the bowl and read the sign underneath: Take one._  
  
Sergio quickly pulled out the candy from his cargo pocket and looked for a clear line of sight toward the monster kid. He flicked it toward him, the candy hitting a blade of grass near the armless child.   
  
Undyne took the bait. She turned to the source of the sound and immediately grabbed at it. His stomach clenched, Sergio watched as she lifted the armless kid from the grass. From what he could see, it appeared that the kid was beaming at her. The soldier threw him down with as much force as when she grabbed him. She searched for Sergio again, her helmet turning left and right....  
  
She huffed, then about-faced and left the tall grass. Was he...was he in the clear?! Sergio turned around on his belly and resumed his swift crawl, hoping he was moving in the right direction. When he reached the edge, he found a small pier extending from the right side of the path. He didn't pass by that when he entered the grass, so he was going the right direction.  
  
_I may be short, but my lifespan long as the Island._ He quietly dusted off his shoulders and got back on track.  
  
The grass rustled behind him. He turned his upper body and reached for his pistol, easing up when he saw the kid Undyne just picked up.   
  
"Yo, did you see that?! Undyne just...TOUCHED me! I'm never washing my face ever again!" exclaimed the kid.  _How you even wash ya face without arms?_ "Man, are you unlucky. If you were standing just a LITTLE bit to the left...."' He sighed in his mirth. "Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!"  
  
The kid took off in front of Sergio and tripped over nothing again, Sergio muffling his laughter. He shook it off and pressed on.   
  
_How many times that happen a day? No wonda he got two black eyes._  
  
Ahead in the path, there was a pinkish glowing piece of cheese (at least he thought it was cheese) on a small table near a mouse hole. The flower on his right made a squeaking sound. Other than that, there was nothing else of interest.  
  
"I ain't even that surprised you here," Sergio said at Sans, who stood next to a telescope in the next room. The manner in which the human spoke was not of contempt, but of neighborliness.  
  
"Well, I'm thinking of getting into the telescope business," Sans responded with a shrug.  
  
"Telescope bidness? Ain't no stars down here."  
  
"None that you can see with the naked eye. Think about how much you can see from the surface, and how much more you can see with more advanced technology."  
  
"But there's stars in the surface. Ain't none you can see down here."  
  
"I dunno, I've witnessed some pretty shocking revelations from people who used that telescope. People said they've seen things they wouldn't have ever imagined."  
  
Sergio scoffed. "Really? Well, since this is a bidness, how much it cost ta use it?"  
  
"It's normally 50,000 to use it." _Bruh._ "But since I know you, you can use it for free."  
  
"Heh-heh, 50 Gs ta use a telescope? Wit prices like that, I'm surprised you still in bidness."  
  
Sergio took two steps toward the telescope and looked through the eyepiece, bracing himself for a startling sight. Maybe the rocks illuminating this place were arranged in a constellation of sorts.   
  
He sighed in disappointment. "It's jest a pink wall."  
  
"Guess you're not satisfied?" Sergio shook his head. "It's all right. I'll give you a full refund." The corner of Sergio's lip turned upward in a smile.   
  
Okay, it was official. Sergio liked this dude. Sans had done nothing but help him throughout the underground. The skeleton taught him about blue attacks, "bought" him lunch, and came through with a sense of humor when things got stressful. Maybe Sergio had wasted all that time trying to get on Papyrus's good side by making a mixtape with him. As far as he knew, monsters respected Sans a lot more than Papyrus, which made sense. Papyrus thought he was dope when he really wasn't. Sans didn't try to outdo anyone, so he'd have better interpersonal relations with his fellow monsters.   
  
How did Sergio feel about the other monsters he'd met? That wasn't as clear. He was still on the fence with Papyrus, and for all Sergio knew, Papyrus was still actively on the hunt for him. All Sergio could do was wait for whatever happened next before he could confirm the taller skeleton as a friend or foe.  
  
This Undyne character was giving him too many problems. His biggest problem was that his chances of knocking out a fully armored soldier wielding a spear were next to nil. He had to avoid her at all costs.  
  
Toriel....Well, he'd kept her in the back of his mind for a reason. His opinion of her was shrouded in ambivalence. Should he still be grateful for her saving his life from the demonic plant? Or should he be angry at her for trying to take it? He had bested her in combat, which would explain how he made it through the ruins in the first place. After he had landed the final blow, it was strange just leaving her wounded like that. He had come from an environment that taught him it was best to make opponents stop breathing so you wouldn't have to worry about them later. But he had the feeling that he'd still be worrying about her if she _hadn't_ survived.   
  
Sergio was traversing this underground without killing anyone for two reasons: One, Flowey expected him to kill somebody, and he wouldn't do anything to satisfy the flower; two, he'd look a lot better to the monsters if he didn't have blood on his hands. The less he attacked the monsters, the better, he thought. He resorted to his craftiness instead of his strength to deal with aggressive monsters purely for PR reasons.   
  
But was there a third reason why he didn't kill anyone?  
  
The area split into two paths, one going forward, the other turning left onto a bridge connecting to another piece of land. Going forward had worked well enough for him, so he began moving forward.  
  
"Psst!" Sergio turned to the skeleton behind him. "I'd go right," Sans counseled. The human nodded and took his advice.  
  
The path led to a lake area of sorts, the water glowing in a luminescent light blue. His footsteps echoed throughout the bright landscape as he stepped onto bridges. Apart from the unusual color of the water, the area looked pretty normal with its cattails and lily pads.   
  
Oh, and echo flowers.  
  
"So, don't you have any wishes to make?" It was the same voice urging his sister to make a wish from earlier.   
  
"...Hmm, just one, but, it's kind of stupid."  
  
_Blip!_ His phone went off. It was Papyrus.  
  
"What is it now?" Sergio made no effort to hide the harshness in his tone.  
  
"Er, hello!" Sergio's bluntness had taken Papyrus aback. "Remember what I said about your clothing?"  
  
"How could I forget about that, especially since you helpin' Undyne right now?"  
  
"What?" Surprise was tinged in the skeleton's voice. "I...I don't know what you're talking about!"  
  
"Miss me wit ya ruse, Papyrus." Undyne had seen him after this point, so disclosing it wouldn't matter. "I seen you talkin' wit 'er like 20 minutes ago, givin' ya daily report and all dat. I _know_ what's goin' down. You ain't wanna kill me ya self, so you helpin' somebody who'd do it for ya!"  
  
"Now, human, hear me out!" The skeleton was desperate to regain control of the situation. "I asked what clothes you were wearing, and whatever you would have said, you could have changed clothes, making yourself harder to identify!"  
  
Sergio produced an emotionless laugh as he continued onto the path. "I cain't believe it. Ya make a mixtape with somebody, and then they try ta get ya killed. I thought we was friends, Papyrus."  
  
"We are! It's just that...." Papyrus sighed. "You know what all is going on here, don't you?"  
  
"Did I _not_ jest say that?"  
  
"Then there's no use bluffing. Yes, I've allied myself with Undyne, long before I met you. I can't just cut ties with her now."  
  
"Since you _do_ got ties wit 'er, can ya at least tell 'er ta cool it wit them spears?"  
  
"You've...you've met?"  
  
"Yeah, and her weapons nearly met my flesh. This Undyne ain't no mutual friend of ours. She out ta _kill_ me. 'Cause a' that, she ain't gon' listen ta anythang _I_ got ta say. Somethin' _you_ do or say may have some sway, though."  
  
There was silence on the other end. Sergio turned a few times as the path ahead of him curved left and right.  
  
"All right. On my honor, I'll find a way to convince Undyne that you are not dangerous. You...just stay alive, okay?"  
  
"You can count on that," Sergio concluded with enmity as he ended the call, pressing the End button with much force.   
  
The water around him became darker as he progressed on a linear ground path, although still visible to the human eye. After turning right, he heard something emerge from the water. His head cocked to his left. A slender, yellow tentacle of sorts was protruding from the lake.   
  
_Aw, naw!_ He was NOT getting eaten by a sea monster today!  
  
He took off into a sprint, not wasting any time on his next escape. More tentacles manifested, keeping up with the human. Sergio imagined any one of them wrapping itself around him and choking the life out of him; therefore, he didn't slow down until he reached the end of the hall. Breathing heavily for a second, he listened to what was in the hallway he'd gone through.  
  
"I...I just wanted to talk to you...." said a morose voice.  
  
"Talk ta me?" Sergio spoke to himself, adjusting his jacket. "Or eat me?" He could barely trust Papyrus at this point. What could have convinced him that that sea monster was a friendly?  
  
He witnessed a stone statue highlighted by a beam of light from above. Somehow, it was raining inside the underground. Sergio took a closer look overhead. It was...it was a hole in the ground, not in the underground, but...in the surface! Surface rain was hitting the statue down here! Granted, there wasn't much he could see from his position, just a grey circle up above, but seeing the sunlight somehow brightened up his mood a bit.    
  
Then he considered how the monsters must have felt. To many of them, sunlight was probably a myth, something that people assumed they wouldn't ever see. To him, it was ironic that their key to seeing the surface was someone from the surface itself, and that someone had to die in order for the monsters to reach their surface-bound dreams.   
  
And that someone just _had_ to be him.   
  
_Wantin' ta go to the surface is good and all, but I ain't dyin' for nobody down here._  
  
At the foot of the statue, there was a curved horizontal slot. He got the feeling it would activate something for his benefit. He had nothing on him that could fit there, so he left the statue, keeping the object in mind.  
  
The next room contained a basket full of umbrellas. Sergio snapped his fingers and pointed at them. It made sense now; rain coming down from the surface, the curved slot to accommodate for the cane-like handle....Something had to happen. He took one and brought it back to the statue. He opened the umbrella and inserted the handle into the slot. He stepped back, unsure of what would happen.  
  
There was a clicking noise coming from the statue, although not a sound resembling that of a bomb. Then Sergio heard a little tune coming from it, sounding like a music box. Its slow tempo and instrumentation had captured the essence of innocence. At least, it was enough to make Sergio sit down and reminisce on his past.   
  
He thought of his father, so long ago, and the face he made every time he came home from work. His job wasn't exactly the easiest--even a preschool-aged Sergio could tell--but all the stress his father felt passed when he saw his son. Just by the exuberant way his father talked to him, wanted to know everything Sergio had done at school, and even efforts to be involved with everything Sergio did, Sergio knew that his dad considered him to be a huge part of his life.   
  
He had taken care of his son as well as his wife. Not too many of his fellow gangsters at Harlem had the luxury of having a father, and he'd been picked on in more than one occasion for his temporary good fortune.  
  
Sergio felt something crawling on his hand. He snapped his head over to the back of his left hand, finding a spider. "Ugh!" He swiped it off and brushed his knuckles as he witnessed it crawl into a wall.   
  
Guess reminiscing time was over.  
  
He grabbed another umbrella partly in case it started raining, partly in case he needed to use it as a melee weapon, Penguin style. The human predicted the weather correctly, since it began to rain further down the hall. Sergio opened up the umbrella, closed his jacket, and put on his hood. He stepped around the dark rain puddles to avoid getting water in his socks.   
  
In the midst of the _pitter-patter_ above him, he heard the monster kid's voice.  
  
"Yo! You've got an umbrella! 'S it okay if I...go with you?" he asked meekly.  
  
Sergio looked at the monster kid and remembered that he didn't have any arms. Any time it rained or snowed down here, the kid was simply out of luck. Wasn't it bad enough that he tripped every time he wanted to go somewhere? Aside from that, Sergio had that boy to thank earlier. If the monster kid wasn't in that patch of grass earlier, Sergio wouldn't have been here right now.  
  
"Come on, li'l pimpin'." Sergio gestured his head to invite him. The monster kid beamed and trotted over to the human.   
  
"Thanks! You're all right for a new guy," replied the monster kid.  
  
"Jest consida it my good turn for the day."  
  
The pair's footsteps sloshed on the moist ground as they pushed onward, Sergio thankful that the other didn't trip on the way. Midway through the next hallway, the monster kid said, "So, one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower."  
  
Sergio immediately slowed his gait and listened more closely. "Go on...?"  
  
"The king--we had to call him Mr. Dreemurr--volunteered to use his own flowers. He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking, 'Yo! How cool would it be if _Undyne_ came to school?!' She could beat up all the teachers!"  
  
"The school I'm from, the students do that themselves."  
  
They walked for a bit before the monster kid went on, "Uh....Maybe she wouldn't beat up all the teachers. She's too cool to hurt an innocent person!"  
  
"For some reason, I doubt that." Sergio hadn't done anything in the public realm of the underworld apart from the WWB he mentioned earlier, and she had given him the green light, meaning that other monsters were likely given government authority to kill him. What was more peculiar, though, was how some monsters didn't seem to care that he was a human. Those who _did_ , however, usually acted aggressively.   
  
Then he got the impression that maybe some monsters had never seen humans before and thought that he was one of them. If that was the case, he could probably use that to his advantage, right until he was asked to do magic.  
  
The faint sound of rainwater had become more muffled at the end of the hallway. The two exited what looked like an entrance to a cave and stepped into a large, dark clearing. They could see a large castle looming in the horizon, its apexes colored blue.   
  
"That must be the Capitol," Sergio presumed.  
  
"Duh," commented the monster kid, as if he was supposed to know that. Sergio confirmed his theory about being seen as a monster by the kid. "I can only imagine what it'd be like for the Royal Guard to train there."  
  
Sergio closed up his umbrella as they reached the other side of the clearing and found a tall ledge. The height wasn't a problem for Sergio; he'd climbed fences taller than that in Harlem. But fences were much easier to climb because of their chain-linked designs. The wall had no crevices to grab onto, making it next to impossible to ascend.   
  
"Yo, this wall is way too steep," the monster kid asserted.   
  
"No argument there. Do we need ta turn back?"  
  
The kid sized up the wall and answered. "Nah. Here." He crouched near the wall. "Climb up on my shoulders."  
  
Huh. The kid was helping him out again, only this time, he was aware of it. Sergio shrugged, tossed the umbrella onto the ledge, and planted his tennis shoes onto the other's shoulders. The human sprung up and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up. Sergio turned back to the kid.  
  
"How I'mma get you up here?" he asked. It wasn't as though he could lower a hand for the kid to grab onto.  
  
"Eh, you can go on ahead. I'll catch up with you. I ALWAYS find a way around!" The kid did his signature running start to falling down combo before exiting.   
  
_Dang,_ thought Sergio. _Some a' these monstas really is aight._ But this also meant that he owed the kid one. He made a mental note of that, picked up his umbrella, and kept moving.  
  
He went from dirt to bridges in a shadowy area. He was squinting as he struggled to see what was in front of him. A bright blue circle appeared on the bridge. Automatic lighting system? Eh, doubtful. Closer inspection reminded him of the color of the spears Undyne threw....  
  
Before he could react, several more blue spots materialized at his feet, though none directly under him. Undyne came into sight on a bridge parallel to the one he was standing on.   
  
"You again?" said Sergio. _ZYOOM!_ Where there were blue spots, glowing spears stuck out. Sergio remembered Sans's advice on blue attacks, but he _really_ didn't feel like testing that out right now.   
  
When the spears dissipated, Sergio bolted across the bridge, juking from side to side to dodge the oncoming weapons. He used the same strategy from dodging the spears as projectiles, occasionally stopping in his tracks. The problem, however, was that the bridge was designed like a maze. Every once in a while, Sergio would get himself turned around. Time really became of the essence since the spears were appearing faster and faster, Undyne undeniably getting ticked.   
  
After squeezing through two spears, he found a large bridge clearing. It would have been perfect for fighting somebody hand-to-hand, but Undyne apparently didn't fight that way. He stopped before crossing a blue spot, watched the spear come up, and went forward.   
  
The bridge didn't look as if it branched off into different paths here, and the rate at which the spears were coming up had decreased. He was home free! He could almost taste the serenity of the lost heat....Almost.  
  
It was a dead end, Sergio almost falling off the edge. He quickly peeked below to see what he would land on if he jumped. It was too dark to tell. He backtracked three steps before Undyne blocked his exit. She trudged toward the human, the sound of her armor reverberating off the bridge.  
  
_End a' the line,_ Sergio figured. The soldier had him cornered. All it would take now was one clean swipe through the chest to end him. Not exactly the way he'd wanted to go out.   
  
But, if he fell, there was a chance that he would land hard on a flat surface and die instantly. Certainly a lot less painful.  
  
What was he thinking? He was _not_ dying today. If he was, the very least he could have done was go out like a G and die fighting. No other tactic would work on her, it seemed. He _did_ have something with which to defend himself; an umbrella would work out in his favor a lot more than a short, unloaded gun.  
  
He tightened his grip on the umbrella handle, holding it by his side. Glowering, he challenged, "Yo' move, 'hero.'"  
  
He heard the spear materialize above him and rolled backward. He wasn't a moment too soon; the spear landed right in front of him, causing cracks to appear on the point of impact. He stood crouched, assessing the situation, then smirked at Undyne. Oh, what he'd give to see her face.   
  
"STILL cain't hit me!" He flashed an L on his forehead again. His smirk left as soon as it showed when he felt a tremor on the bridge. The spear had weakened his side of the bridge, Sergio feeling himself get lower. He lowered his center of gravity and braced for sudden descent.  
  
_SNAP!_ The bridge collapsed, sending Sergio falling downward into the dark abyss. 

# .     .     .

  
_"It sounds like it came from over here," a young voice called out. Sergio opened his eyes. He lay on soft bedding...no, it was...flowers. Light from the surface cascaded onto the flower bed.  
  
He was right back to where he was just before he met Flowey!   
  
He reached for his gun, but it wasn't there. In fact, he wasn't even dressed in his own clothes. He was surprisingly well-dressed, attired in what looked like a school uniform: dark blue vest over a Sunday shirt and tie, dress pants, and formal-looking shoes adorned his body.   
  
A rustle sounded in the grass behind him. He about-faced toward the source of the sound, foolishly expecting Flowey. Instead of a demonic flower, he saw a concerned goat boy wearing a green striped sweatshirt, standing barefoot in the grass.  
  
"Do you need any help?" The goat boy stood beside him as Sergio tried to lift himself up.  
  
"I got it," Sergio dismissed. He crouched, then straightened up his legs to stand up. He dusted the dirt off his inexplicably nice clothes.   
  
"You've fallen down, haven't you?" asked the goat boy. By the sound of his voice, he had to be no older than 12 or 13, right before puberty removed the annoying squeakiness from a guy's voice.  
  
"Nah, I teleported down here. What do you think?" At least the armless monster kid didn't point out the obvious.   
  
"Are you okay?" His eyebrows furrowed in genuine worry. The way he acted toward an unfamiliar human, as well as how he looked, had reminded him of somebody....  
  
"Afta survivin' what I jest did, I'm jest peachy. But now I gotta go through them ruins, Snowdin, and Watafall _ again _, and make up for lost time."_  
  
_"'Again?' You've been here before?"_  
  
_"Yeah, and it seem like I done a complete circle." He clenched his jaw. "I swear, if I see Undyne again, I'mma kick her--"_  
  
_"Undyne? Who's that?" The goat boy's face twitched in confusion._  
  
_"The broad who lead the Royal Guard?" Sergio thought EVERYONE had known her. "Her helmet got like a red tail on it? Got a huge, glowin' spear on deck?" A couple of them, actually._  
  
_The goat boy shook his head, his droopy ears flopping with his head's movement. "Nope, sorry."_  
  
_Huh. This kid didn't know anything about her. Either he was wholly oblivious, or Sergio had entered a new dimension of the underground. He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping for the former._  
  
_"But who are you? What's your name?" asked the goat boy curiously, his brows curving up.  
  
There was no harm in obliging now. If Undyne would find him sooner or later, withholding his identity was pointless. "Sergio."  
  
"Sergio, huh? That's a nice name." The goat boy beamed at him. The area around the two began to fade from Sergio's vision. "My name is...."  
  
_

#  _.     .     ._

  
Sergio woke up on yet another flower bed, a pungent smell of garbage wafting throughout the new area. He pinched himself. Yep, he was truly awake now. It was freaky to experience the most recent series of events. First, he thought he was going to die from the fall; next, he "awakened" on the same flower bed he started on; and now he REALLY woke up in what looked like a disposal area! Can you say Inception?  
  
But the scariest part wasn't that he may have needed to retrace his steps. The scariest part was the fact that he wore a private school uniform. He'd take impalement over THAT any day of the week.  
  
He grabbed the umbrella at his side, which landed on a piece of the fallen bridge. He had no choice but to wade through the water of the landfill-like area, passing through large piles of trash. The water reached only to his shins, so he didn't need to extract the phone from his pocket. He tried not to think about how gross the water was, given the things that were likely to fall in....  
  
He caught sight of a few brands in the garbage that he recognized: Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheetos, an old box for a Sony TV....and a case of Bud Light. That wasn't his mother's favorite brand, but he still knew what it was. With a heavy exhale, he moved forward.  
  
There was a random training dummy down here, one that looked like the dummy in the ruins. Was it alive? There was nothing about it to suggest that it was. He pushed on.   
  
_SWOOSH!_ The same dummy he saw not five seconds ago flew in front of him, blocking the exit. All the lifelessness Sergio assumed about it had left it, what with its suddenly yellow body, open eyes, and frowning brows.   
  
"How did you...?" Sergio asked, holding the middle of the umbrella behind him in a defensive posture.  
  
"Hahaha, too intimidated to fight me, huh? I am a ghost that lives inside a DUMMY. My cousin used to live in a DUMMY too, until YOU CAME ALONG!" The ghost was as mad as a hatter, both in looks and in sound. "When you talked to him, he thought he was in for a nice chat! But the things you SAID...! Horrible! Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE!"  
  
_Holy crap, this dude's annoyin'. Now my main priority is ta shut 'im up._  
  
"I jest asked 'im what was good! If _that_ scare ya cousin, he ain't a ghost worth 'is salt!"  
  
"But now you have come across one who is! Human! I'll scare the soul out of your body!"  
  
The new battlefield became dark, and the dummy's torso had split into a second mouth. Exasperatedly heavy breathing came from it as it summoned a few smaller dummies flying around it. The dummy-ettes cast magic in the form of circular scribbles at Sergio, the human side-stepping away from the attacks. Two more sets of dummies formed in front of him, Sergio evading the scribbles with ease. He heard a few whisks of air behind him. As soon as he found the dummy's minions behind him, he jumped to his right, water splashing up at him as he landed.  
  
_TZZZT!_ Sergio heard what sounded like fabric being ripped. The ghost dummy looked slightly damaged, its face contorted into an expression of pain. "Ow, you dummies! Watch where you're aiming your magic attacks!" It became wide-eyed, as if it said something it wasn't supposed to. Then it looked at the human. "Hey, you! Forget I said anything about magic!"  
  
Sergio produced his trademark lopsided smile. He'd admit, he was concerned about how he would go about defeating or avoiding this monster. If it really _was_ a ghost, hitting it with an umbrella, gun, or fists wouldn't work on it. He could have tried running, but the ghost could most likely pass through walls. But if this ghost was mad enough, it'd keep making the same mistakes until it tore itself asunder! Of course, could you really _kill_ a ghost?  
  
No time for thinking about it now. "If I survived Undyne twice in a row, I'mma be Swayze 'fore you know it!"  
  
The ghost dummy came at him with two more volleys of dummies, both unsuccessful. Its temper had risen as did Sergio's confidence. The dummy's attempts at attacking him were futile; Sergio was simply too quick to be hit. The dummy, on the other hand, somehow didn't foresee its own magic hitting it, despite what happened in its first volley. Cotton littered the surface of the water above which the dummy hovered.  
  
The dummy-ettes then surrounded Sergio, the human stopping in his tracks to assess the situation. If they all attacked at once, it may have been over for him. Given their performance earlier, however, he doubted they'd all be smart enough to simultaneously coordinate an assault.  
  
"Hey, guys! Dummies, dummies, DUMMIES! Remember how I said NOT to shoot at me?" inquired the ghost. The dummy-ettes all looked at him. "Well....FAILURES! You're fired! You're all being replaced!" After an insane crescendoing laugh, the ghost turned its head toward Sergio. "Now you'll see my true power: Relying on people that aren't garbage!"  
  
"'S pretty bad if you gotta rely on people all the time," Sergio retorted.   
  
The dummy-ettes vanished. Sergio stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, holding the umbrella backhanded behind him. He shot a glance left and right after hearing mechanical whirring around him.   
  
"Dummy bots! Magic missile!" ordered the ghost dummy.  
  
Small explosions erupted behind him. The ghost wasn't lying; there were four or five small missiles racing towards him, discharged by robotic dummies. Magic he _knew_ he could handle. Missiles? A bit risky.  
  
He sidestepped to his right and witnessed the missiles pass by him, then turn back toward him. _Homin' missiles?!_ He backpedaled, shifted left, and moved forward before the missiles lost their lock. The missiles then swerved off to the left, missing the dummy entirely.   
  
Sergio sighed with relief, then thought about what was happening as the ghost paraded around, performing a dance of some sort. Those _were_ missiles he avoided, but the ghost stated that they were made of magic; therefore, the dummies had a chance to hit their leader with the projectiles. But how would he redirect the missiles to hit the ghost? Did the missiles have some sort of pattern?  
  
He let the dummy bots recharge their cannons and waited, analyzing the missiles' potential pattern. Two missiles were fired from his left and his right, and three more from behind. That left one logical solution: He took two large steps forward, cut left, backpedaled, and strafed right. The missiles had lost their lock and flew off behind Sergio.  
  
The box movement was certainly working in his favor. He thought back to his last action: forward, left, back, right. Two or three steps in one direction, then switching was enough to shake off the lock. After cutting right, the missiles exploded behind him. The penultimate move he'd made was backpedaling.  
  
So that was it. The next time he moved in a box step, he'd move forward to redirect the missiles toward the dummy as one of the last movements in a volley.   
  
"Dummy bots!" called the dummy. The dummy-ettes turned to their boss. "You're awful?!" It was an exclamation of disbelief.   
  
He heard whirring behind him. As the dummies fired, Sergio moved to his right and cut backward, the missiles following his movements. He planned to cut forward and then left, but a new series of missiles discharged on his right. He cut left, shot forward, and turned right. The first series of missiles had hit the dummy, but Sergio had no time to gloat; dummies lined up in front of him and sent more missiles his way, not long after the last volley. He returned to his original square movement, the missiles circling around until he evaded their lock.  
  
"Dummy bots! Final attack!"   
  
_CLICK!_ The bots on Sergio's left prepared a different mechanism. They sprang from the ground and propelled themselves at the human, Sergio finding a hole in their moving wall to avoid them. He stepped forward when robots nearly slammed him from the right. One of the robots there had fired another missile at him; Sergio avoided the missile as he dodged more robots coming at him from behind.   
  
The dummies had vanished. It looked as though the human was finally victorious. Then the sound of whirring completely surrounded him, save for the area near the ghost dummy. He predicted when the dummies would fire and trotted forward, circling around the wet junkyard to avoid the new volley of missiles. _TZZZT!_ More missiles had backfired on the ghost dummy, more cotton lying under it.   
  
Furiously contorting its body, the dummy commented, "N-no way! These dummies are even WORSE than the other guys!"  
  
"I dunno, I think I felt a breeze on that last one," Sergio teased, brushing his shoulder.  
  
"Who cares? Who cares?! WHO CARES?! I DON'T NEED FRIENDS!" The ghost magically produced a glowing knife floating beside it. "I'VE GOT KNIVES!"  
  
"Go 'head, see me wit that knife," he challenged, bringing the umbrella in front of his chest. The dummy cast the knife at his face. The blade flew more slowly than Sergio expected, so he easily swatted the knife with an upward umbrella strike. As his weapon impacted the knife, the latter lost its glimmer, signifying that it was no longer in control of the dummy. With it safe to touch, Sergio caught it by the handle with his left hand as it made its descent.  
  
The knife was certainly an upgrade from the blunt trauma his unloaded gun could produce. He vaguely recalled the vow he'd made to himself, but he theorized that if the monsters were getting progressively more dangerous, he may have needed to slit a couple throats.  
  
"Ta be honest, ya had a betta chance wit the dummies."  
  
"It doesn't matter! You can't hurt me and I can't hurt you! You'll be stuck fighting me forever! Forever! FOREVER!" The dummy's body viciously shifted from unity to separation as it produced a hysterical laugh.   
  
Now _that_ was scary. Sergio felt fine physically, but this whole dodging missiles shtick was getting a bit old. He was unhurt, yet the longer he paraded around playing Matrix with a diabolical training instrument, the higher the chances of getting bombed, which would make the smelly disposal area his final resting place.   
  
He heard a series of rips and tears from the ghost dummy. It sounded as though more rain was pouring in. He opened up his umbrella and watched as the dummy winced in pain.  
  
"Wha...what the heck is this?! Acid rain?! Oh, forget it, I'm out of here!" It vanished into the walls of the room, and the area regained its brightness.   
  
A ghost Sergio had met in the ruins descended to him. Its eyes looked wet, its mouth slightly open in a distraught state. That was when he realized that it wasn't rain that drove the dummy off. It was this ghost's tears.  
  
"Sorry," it said, "I interrupted you, didn't I? As soon as I came over, your friend left...."  
  
Sergio let out a breathy laugh as he closed his umbrella. "Are you kiddin'? Oldboy over there wasn't my friend. He was actually tryna _kill_ me. You jest saved me!" The human was beaming, his smile being without deceit or manipulative intentions.   
  
"Really? You guys sure looked like you were having fun...." The ghost was not convinced.   
  
"How could you...?" He thought back to the fight with the dummy. Throughout the battle, Sergio was taunting it as though he was enjoying himself in the ordeal. Was he? To an extent, yes, but it was only fun for a short time. The only entertaining part about it was seeing the dummy try something new after one method had failed.   
  
"Oh, no....I just wanted to say hi," said the ghost after Sergio's voice trailed off. "Oh, no...." It turned around and headed for the exit.  
  
"Ayo, ghost dude, hold up!" Sergio couldn't let it leave just then; he didn't even show his gratitude yet.   
  
It worked. The ghost stopped, hovering at the inner edge of the hallway.   
  
"You saved my life," Sergio reiterated, pointing at the ghost, "and I wanna thank ya somehow." It seemed like a logical part in dealing with others; if somebody saved you from death, the least you could do was repay him or her with a good deed. He was unsure what he could do for the ghost, so he asked, "What can I do in return?"  
  
The ghost turned to the human. "I...I don't know....I've never had anybody want to do anything for me....I was just gonna head home....Come by if you want, but no pressure....I can understand if you're busy...."  
  
As far as Sergio knew, Undyne considered him dead, so she wouldn't be hot on his trail. He figured that hanging out for a while wouldn't hurt anything.   
  
"Lead the way, bruh." Sergio gestured toward the exit. "You, uh, got a name?"  
  
The ghost blinked at him, then replied, "Napstablook...." There was no denying the surprise in its voice as it led the human across the hall.  
  
Sergio waited for the ghost to ask for his name, but it seemed it didn't want to impose. Following the ghost, he said, "Name's Sergio."  
  
Napstablook stopped floating forward and slowly turned to Sergio again. "What...? Is it...?"  
  
Sergio tightened his grip on the umbrella at his side. "Is there a problem?" _Don't tell me I gotta fight this guy, too._  
  
The ghost's countenance displayed a degree of awareness. "I think....I think I recognize you...."

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"With the power of seven human souls, our king, King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. Don't you understand, human? This is your only chance of redemption."_

_"Here's the thang, Undyne. I ain't lookin' for no redemption._ I'm  _stayin' alive. So go 'head, see me wit that spear."_

_.     .     ._

_"Ay, getcha self up. I don't need you dyin' on me."_

_.     .     ._

_"What's wit all the cameras spyin' on me, doc?"_

_"I've, uh, been 'observing' your journey through my console."_

_"Then ya must know what I do ta monstas that step up ta me."_


	6. Low-key Jedi

**Chapter 6: Low-key Jedi**  
  
"So, you was on a music forum," Sergio concluded as he leaned against a cracked wall. He and Napstablook were in the latter's house, the ghost hovering near a computer and wearing headphones. How that was possible, Sergio had no idea.  
  
"Yeah...somebody shared it while writing in a weird little font," Napstablook answered, moving away from the computer to allow Sergio to see for himself. The human approached the desktop computer and glanced at the screen. The MonsterCloud link was pasted onto a post, the mixtape picture with him and Papyrus embedded. The text had no capitalization or apostrophes, but there was indeed a weird, unconventional font.   
  
"Sans," Sergio discerned. It was because of the pun-loving skeleton that almost a hundred monsters had listened to the three songs in the sample mixtape, with fifteen likes. A smug grin on his face, Sergio nodded at the screen in approval. "You make any music of ya own?"  
  
"I'm working on my own mix CD....I've got a few samples on that table over there...." Napstablook nodded to the table on the opposite end. "You can listen to them if you want...."  
  
The table had three CD books lying on top of it lying beside a basic home stereo system. _Whoa. Oldboy must be busy._ However, after walking toward it, Sergio only found one CD per book. It seemed odd to neglect space in one book, but whatever.  
  
He analyzed the three discs. One was labeled "Ghouliday Music." Sergio had left his holiday spirit in Snowdin, so he discarded it. That left "Spookwave" and "Spooktunes." He chose the former and put it in the stereo. The LCD interface flashed a bit before the music played. After a few cadences, Sergio rolled his neck with the rhythm, shimmying his shoulders.   
  
"Okay, I see you, Napstablook!" called Sergio, grinning at him. Even the ghost couldn't fight back a smile as he witnessed the human continuing his impromptu dance routine to the ghost's own song. "All ya need is some trap drums!"  
  
"It's a work in progress...." the ghost replied, his tone slightly higher.   
  
"Well, if _this_ is what you got goin' on so far, I cain't wait ta hear the final product! You'd be a hit in the clubs in the surface." Sergio's attention shifted to the refrigerator at the far end of the living room. Ghosts were already dead in a sense, so eating food wasn't exactly necessary for them. Maybe it just came with the house. Just what could a ghost keep in a fridge?   
  
"Oh...are you hungry...?" asked the ghost. It looked as though Sergio would find out. "I can get you something to eat...."  
  
Neither hunger nor thirst were issues, but Sergio's curiosity got the best of him. "Thanks."  
  
Napstablook willed the fridge door to open. Looking through the ghost, Sergio simply found items that would fit in any refrigerator, surface _or_ underground. However, the things he saw looked just as transparent as Napstablook did.   
  
A dish floated near the ghost as Napstablook turned back to Sergio. "This is a ghost sandwich....Do you want to try it...?"  
  
A courteous laugh escaped Sergio. "You sure I can even touch this?" Regardless, he reached for the plate. His fingers passed cleanly through the objects, and the food fell straight to the floor. The plate made a small _thud_ as it hit the ground.   
  
"Oh...." said Napstablook with resignation, his gloomy expression returning.  
  
"Incorporeal-ness sure is fickle." But he was quite glad the plate didn't shatter.  
  
"Anyway...after a great meal, I like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage...."  
  
Sergio's face scrunched in confusion. "Hol' up, ya _like_ ta do it? Don't it jest make ya day worse?"  
  
"It's a family tradition," the other dismissed. A short pause.... "Do you want...to join me...?"  
  
Admittedly, lying down on a hard wooden floor didn't seem like much, but that last detail about it being a family tradition had brought some honor into the mix. Napstablook barely knew him for an hour, but he was offering Sergio a chance to partake in a familial custom. Granted, the human got the vibe that the ghost didn't really get many visitors, but it was still worth something.  
  
"Guess I could chill for a minute."  
  
The ghost looked surprised. "Okay...follow my lead...." Napstablook moved to the center of the floor, then lay supine. Sergio sat down, then reciprocated the ghost's action, his hands supporting his head.  
  
The only thing both of them heard for ten minutes was Sergio's occasional exhales. All Sergio could think about was the potential to lose the heat he'd gotten from Undyne a few hours prior. If all went well, Undyne would have called off the investigation and labeled him dead.  
  
 _Eh, that ain't likely._ While it was true that the fall should have killed him, the human remembered Undyne's vow to take his soul. As far as he knew, she needed to use her spear for that. The collapse of the bridge certainly wasn't intentional, either. That came from a spear that he had barely avoided. Most would have considered it unlucky for a bridge to fall when walking on it, but a usually fatal occurrence had possibly saved Sergio's life.   
  
Then he got to thinking about Papyrus. It was still vaguely uncertain whether or not he had Sergio's best interests at heart. The skeleton said he'd "think of something," but whatever it was couldn't have come soon enough. How Sergio last talked with him definitely would have come off as rude, and he briefly considered calling him over the phone and apologizing. However, that would have confirmed Sergio's continued existence, and the hunt for him would have continued. He had to refrain from calling or answering him until it was safe.   
  
His socks were finally dried out, so it was a good time to continue on his mission. He stood up, tied his shoes back on, and grabbed his bag, his folded umbrella held in his right hand. Napstablook floated from the floor and said, "Well...that was nice....Thank you...."  
  
"Anytime, Naps. It was nice to hang out." He put his arm through the second strap. "I'mma be on my way. You, uh, keep producin' that fire."  
  
Sergio felt strange as he closed the door to Napstablook's house. It was an emotion wholly absent from the time he left Papyrus's house. While at the skeleton's abode he only did what he felt was necessary to survive (and, he'd admit, he always wanted to make a mixtape), what he just left was completely real. He made friends with Napstablook not just to make life easier for himself, but because he felt it was right to do. As a result, he felt...good, for lack of a better term. He noticed that he'd been experiencing this feeling a lot more often, unquestionably stemming from his recent circumstances.  
  
 _But this ain't the time ta be gettin' soft. I need ta be on my toes._  
  
He passed the two houses and what looked like an entrance to a shop to another area surrounded by waterfalls, one of which flattening out in his path. _I_ jest _got these clean!_ Sergio took a few steps back, then leapt over the wet area. He landed on the other side completely dry. He repeated the process once more before moving to a darker area. Light blue rocks and blue-flamed torches illuminated the path he needed to take. Recalling the last area he'd seen that was like this, he tapped mushrooms with his feet to find the path's continuation.   
  
When he tapped his third mushroom, he encountered a small, cat-like being walking on all fours, wearing human clothing and possessing a woman's hair on its head surrounding pairs of cat-like and dog-like ears. The creature might have been adorable if it weren't for its entire body trembling with enthusiasm and its unnerving stare.   
  
Sergio held the umbrella by the handle. "Aight, Mittens. What's yo' weakness?" he muttered to himself.  
  
The creature seemed to hear him. "Hoi! I'm Temmie!" it spoke. Its front leg unnaturally extended toward Sergio's chest, aimed straight at the heart placed on it. With his umbrella, he swatted the paw away from him, and the front leg receded back to its original length.   
  
"Won't be none a' that," Sergio asserted, keeping his feet still and his umbrella low; he still appeared passive, but was still ready for anything the dog-cat would try. It groaned and faded into the shadows.  
  
Further along the path he entered an area that was illuminated by purple rocks around. As soon as he entered, the lights quickly started to fade out. With what little light and time he had before total darkness, Sergio flipped a switch on one of the blue lanterns around, resetting the purple rocks. He did this two more times before leaving the area.   
  
The next hall was quite dark, but Sergio could discern that there was a waterway going through it based on the sounds. The sloshing water sounded bigger than the other few rooms, so he doubted that he could have jumped it. Groaning, he trudged through the shin-deep water, uselessly opening his phone to light a few inches of the path ahead of him.   
  
He saw a tall, blue flower at the end of the hall, which said "Behind you." Like nothing, the area brightened up, allowing Sergio to see _her_ again.  
  
"Yo, Undyne, wusgood?" Sergio remarked with a cocky laugh at the irony. Undyne took a few steps toward him, then stopped. A few more steps. It was useless for Sergio to run since he was at a dead end. His trepidation about the situation would have been higher had he not survived Undyne three times already.  
  
It sounded as though Undyne inhaled before stating, "Seven. Seven human souls. With the power of seven human souls, our king, King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured."  
  
"Right...." Of all the powers that monsters could show off, they couldn't get past a simple barrier? What could have made a barrier that could prevent _monsters_ from moving past it? These monsters weren't exactly all that magical, were they?  
  
"Don't you understand, human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your soul, or I'll tear it from your body."   
  
"Heh. Here's the thang, Undyne. I ain't lookin' for no redemption. Even if I was, what makes you think I'mma give y'all my soul?" He flipped the umbrella in his hand. " _I'm_ stayin' alive, and my soul ain't gon' be given ta nobody, barria or no barria. So go 'head, see me wit that spear."  
  
Undyne summoned her magical spear, then quickly approached him. Sergio was prepared, his feet shoulder width apart, his umbrella guarding his chest. The area was about to darken in combat when he heard grass rustling to his right.  
  
"Undyne! I'll help you fight!" said the armless monster kid. Then he looked at Undyne, then Sergio, then Undyne, then Sergio again, pondering what was happening. Then he looked at Sergio. "Yo! You did it! Undyne is RIGHT in front of you! You've got front row seats to her fight!"  
  
Sergio chuckled. "I think I got more than front row seats, partna."  
  
The kid looked puzzled. "Wait, who's she fighting?"  
  
He wouldn't get an answer, as Undyne dragged him by the face away from the would-be fight scene.   
  
"H-hey! You're not gonna tell my parents about this, are you?" the kid begged. The echo flower repeated the kid when he and Undyne were out of earshot.   
  
Sergio rolled his arms in a dance before performing a "dab." The monster kid came through in the clutch _again_. The best part about it was that the kid wasn't even trying to save him. It was all by pure happenstance. Despite the tough talk Sergio had shown off to Undyne, he knew that there was real danger when she cornered him. It was quite possible that that hallway would have been his grave had the kid not intervened.   
  
Now that was two Sergio owed the kid.   
  
He went down the watery path and found a trail that branched off from the waterway. He turned right and stepped into another field of talking flowers.   
  
"Hmm...if I say my wish, you promise you won't laugh at me?"  
  
"Of course I won't laugh!"  
  
"Someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around....That's my wish."  
  
The second voice laughed. The first voice protested, "Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!"  
  
"Sorry, it's just funny....That's my wish too."  
  
Sergio came across another bridge, warily testing its strength before continuing on; he didn't need another spear sending him down into the underground's abyss. It seemed sturdy enough, so he pushed on.  
  
"Yo!" The monster kid's voice sounded behind him, cutting through the noise of sloshing water ever-present in Waterfall.   
  
The human responded with a smile, "Wassup, li'l man?"  
  
"I know I'm not supposed to be here, but....I wanna ask you something."  
  
"Sure thang."  
  
The monster kid took a deep breath. "Man, I never had to ask anyone this before....Um....Yo, you're human, right?"  
  
No use in lying. "Yep."  
  
"Hehe, I knew it! I mean, I know now....Undyne told me, 'stay away from that human.'"  
  
"What, she think I'm a threat ta you?" Sergio asked, the smile still on his face.  
  
"Dunno. I guess this makes us enemies or something, but I kinda stink at that. Could you say something mean so that I can hate you?"  
  
There were a thousand things Sergio could have said to poke fun at the monster kid. It wasn't every day where people asked him to insult them. If the circumstances were much different, he wouldn't have hesitated to oblige. But did he have the heart to straight up roast one of the monsters responsible for his continued living?  
  
Sergio shook his head. "Sorry. Ain't happenin'."  
  
"Yo, what?" The kid looked perplexed. "So _I_ have to do it?" He paused to think of the most cutting, most vile remark he could throw the human's way. "Yo, I...I hate your guts."  
  
Sergio laughed. "You'll forgive me if I don't believe ya."   
  
The kid's head lowered in shame. "Man, I...I'm such a turd. I'm...I'm gonna go home now."  
  
"Aw, you ain't gotta leave," Sergio said. Did he somehow hurt the monster's feelings? It seemed the kid was expected to act one way to Sergio, but wanted to act a different way because of something Sergio did. Was the kid not supposed to treat him nicely? If Undyne had something to do with it, he'd bet his bottom dollar that was the case.   
  
Despite Sergio's protests, the kid walked backward, then turned to a run. It was customary for him to trip and fall when he did this, but it couldn't have been more inopportune here. He slipped and fell off the bridge, now standing on a steep incline below it.   
  
"Yo! Help! I'm stuck!" cried the monster. Sergio fell into a state of small panic, rushing over to the kid. He knelt down and extended an arm to the kid, just realizing that the kid didn't have any arms. He leaned over further and grabbed the horns on the back of the kid's head.  
  
"Sorry if this hurts, playa," he said before yanking upward, the kid groaning in pain. The kid was fortunately light, which helped Sergio pull him back onto the bridge.   
  
When all seemed safe again, Sergio and the kid noticed Undyne on the other side of the bridge, where both of them had come from. As soon as the kid got back to his feet, he stood directly in front of Sergio and declared, "Y...yo, dude, if you wanna hurt my friend...you're gonna have to get through me first." The kid seemed youthfully cheerful and amiable most of the time, so it was startling to hear him speak so seriously. Of course, his voice quavered, and he was a bit hesitant; other than that, there was no doubting the certainty of the kid's assertions.  
  
 _Is this kid really gon' take a spear for me?_  
  
Undyne took two steps back. Another two steps. Then she about-faced and left the bridge.   
  
The smile slowly played across Sergio's face before telling the kid, "Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about, bruh!" He enthusiastically slapped the kid's back, careful not to knock him over. "You stood up to 'er and showed 'er what's good! Do you even KNOW how much I owe ya right now?"  
  
The kid answered with a sheepish grin, "Yo, you don't owe me anything. You just saved my skin. I figured I could try to save yours."  
  
"Regardless, I'mma find a way ta pay you back for all a' this. You helped me so much these last few minutes, I cain't even begin ta describe how grateful I am! And you said we was gon' be enemies!"  
  
"Guess that was just a nice thought, haha. We'll just have to be friends instead."  
  
"Ay, I'm down with that. Look man, I...I don't even know ya name." It was difficult to believe that they had just saved each other without having been introduced first.   
  
"My name?" The kid's eyebrow raised before responding, "Uh...Bryson. What's yours?"  
  
"Call me Sergio, ya human friend."   
  
"Ser-gee-oh? That's a cool name." The kid yawned. "Ah, man, I REALLY ought to get home. I bet my parents are worried sick about me!"  
  
The smile slightly faded from Sergio's face. "Oh, I'll bet. Catch ya later." With a wave, he bade Bryson farewell and continued on the bridge.   
  
The path led to a rocky hill adorned with several outward stones that pointed every which way. At the summit of the hill was his favorite monster guard.   
  
"Seven. Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a god."  
  
"Ain't we already been through this?" Sergio called out. "Asgore wants ta kill human children so he can kill otha humans on the surface. Ya need my soul 'cause I'm the last one left. Tell me somethin' I don't know!"  
  
Undyne huffed. "As is customary for those who make it this far, I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people."  
  
"Man, I ain't got time for this." Sergio walked toward the hole in the rocky hill, as it seemed to be an entrance to another area. The human had forgotten how fast Undyne could have moved, even with all that armor on. Right before he could go in, the guard fell right between him and the exit. Before her descent, she had taken off her helmet.   
  
And what he saw...was quite appalling. Undyne's face was an orthodontist's nightmare, with...an overbite that could have given Timmy Turner a run for his money. This so-called tough guard had a blue fish-like head, with fins where her ears would have been. Her helmet didn't have a tail on it, but the red streak of hair was actually her own hair. She glared at Sergio with one yellow eye; the left eye was covered with an eye patch.   
  
"I liked you better wit the helmet on, big pimpin'," Sergio quipped, flipping the umbrella in his hand. Then the new arena got dark.   
  
Undyne summoned her spear and swung it across, Sergio cutting back to avoid it. His body then became somewhat frozen, and his skin and clothes turned to a shade of green.   
  
"What?!"  
  
"En garde!" announced Undyne.   
  
Instead of elastic bungee-cord sensation of Papyrus's "blue attack," Sergio couldn't move from his spot on the floor. Strangely, he could still turn a full 360 degrees on one pivot foot, like in basketball.   
  
"As long as you're green, you can't escape!"  
  
"You gotta use magic ta take me down?" Sergio shot back.   
  
"Unless you learn to face danger head-on, you won't last a SECOND against me!"   
  
Three spears formulated in front of Sergio. His legs had somewhat restricted movement, but both arms were free. As the spears shot toward him, he swatted the magical objects away with his umbrella, the weapons dissolving with impact.   
  
"What's funny is, you think you dope, but you're not," Sergio boasted, a lopsided smile accompanying his statement.   
  
"Hmm, not bad, but how 'bout THIS?!" Undyne challenged, lifting an arm to summon another spell. Sergio heard two more spears formulate at his front, left, and right. He organized the attack in his mind in order of proximity: The ones at his front were closest, then the left, then the right. He swatted away the spears based on that order and stared back at Undyne.  
  
"Ya face look like it was curb-stomped, _and_ ya cain't even hit me wit ya magic! How I'm supposed ta respect ya?" Sergio chided, standing defensively.  
  
Undyne clenched her teeth. Sergio's strategy was working. He was talking all that noise despite Undyne was still taller and looked bigger than he did with the rest of her armor on. Fighting against her would have been a death wish. However, if he learned anything from being stuck underground, it was that every monster down here had a weakness that could have been nonviolently exploited.   
  
And he of all people should have known: Losing temper also meant losing effectiveness. Though her spears were getting faster, her last volley wasn't more successful than the previous one.   
  
She drew a finger across her throat. Playtime was over now. A long series of spears formulated around him, making his sense of hearing essentially useless. However, he tapped into some internal intuition that allowed him to discern where all the spears were coming from...even ones from behind.   
  
He turned to his left and swatted four spears approaching from the left. He immediately turned to his right and knocked three more spears away. He cut left and hit another spear before sensing another spear coming from behind him. Sergio spun and smacked the lone spear out of existence.   
  
"Hahaaaa! I'm on that good foot today, boy!" Sergio was on cloud nine; the oh-so-revered Undyne was facing off against him, and so far, he didn't even suffer a scratch! He must have been underground long enough to gain a special power to know where the spears were coming from, despite the fact that he was human. Was he a low-key Jedi?   
  
Undyne flipped her spear, growing impatient as she raised an arm. The low _wubs_ of the spears' materialization was much easier to track this time around. Sergio pivoted in a clockwise circle, blocking the much quicker spears coming at him at his right, rear, back, front, right, rear, and back again. A brisk series of spears came at him from the front, so he stuck his umbrella in front of him to block the magical bombardment. The umbrella vibrated in his hands as he deflected the attacks.  
  
 _Okay, this is cool and all, but how am I doin' all a' this?_  He certainly wished this new "ability" was present when he was fighting Papyrus. It was also lucky that his umbrella showed no signs of damage throughout all of this. The monster magic was truly strange.  
  
Undyne growled and sent an even faster volley of spears at Sergio. He adjusted to the new speed at which she attacked and stuck to blocking her attacks instead of swatting them. Then Undyne pumped an open palm towards Sergio, the greenness now absent from his body. This had effectively distracted Sergio, who moved around to see if the effects were truly there. In his peripheral vision, he saw a spear coming at him from his left. He bounced back to dodge it, the spear passing cleanly through his jacket. The magic that comprised the spears weren't exactly solid unless they met human flesh...or wooden bridges.  
  
"Felt some wind on that one," he taunted. It appeared his jibe fell on deaf ears, as Undyne held a nearby boulder and brought it over the front of her torso, suplexing it.  
  
Her weakness had been exposed.  
  
 _Now's my chance!_  
  
Sergio bolted for the cave entrance, which had been neglected with Undyne's tantrum. The new path went over a waterway, with floating ice blocks being carried with the current. He subconsciously wondered how long it would take for her to realize that he ran.  
  
"COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE PUNK!"  
  
Approximately four seconds into his escape.   
  
Now, Sergio was quick; he had to be in order to survive his unethical lifestyle. In his mind, he should have been long gone if Undyne was chasing him with all that armor on. However, the armor proved to be no disadvantage; just as Sergio turned the corner, Undyne was quickly catching up to him. He heard another spear formulate behind him, and he knew Undyne was close enough for her to hit him. He stopped on a dime, grabbed the umbrella by the top, and swung full force in a 180 degree spin. He hit the spear, the magical weapon spiraling waywardly before vanishing.   
  
Undyne was taken aback. "Wha-?" Sergio then jabbed the umbrella at her face, the handle hitting her square in the eye patch, the monster doubling over and grunting in pain. That had to buy him some time. Sergio raced down the hall, noting an electronic sign that said, "Welcome to Hotland!"  
  
His phone rang as soon as he entered a much warmer area: Lava flowed underneath as heat blazed from the ground he ran on. Beside a narrow wooden bridge that was over a pool of lava, there was a sentry stand, occupied by Sergio's favorite skeleton.   
  
"SAAAANS!" he called desperately. It was futile; the hoodied skeleton was fast asleep. Sergio had to go with his initial plan and keep running, tiptoeing on the narrow bridge.   
  
When he made it across, he realized that Undyne didn't sound as close to him as she did previously. Her run had slowed down to more of a trot as she first stepped on the bridge. Her gait exponentially decelerated as she got closer to Sergio.  
  
"Armor...so...hot...." she panted, trudging forward, her face wincing in exhaustion. "But I can't...give...up...." She slowed to a crawl, then finally collapsed on the bridge.   
  
Sergio's eyebrows rose in surprise. _Guess I was wrong. Her armor_ was _a disadvantage._  He was in this "Hotland" place for about a minute, and he was just now getting the urge to take off his jacket; otherwise, he felt fine. However, Undyne was a fish out of water, literally, so he figured she would have been in more danger of dehydration than other monsters.   
  
Welp, sucked to be her. This only made his job much easier. Sergio turned and started to walk away before a realization hit him. It was possible that Undyne could have gotten heat stroke, maybe even worse if she wasn't treated. In fact, even death seemed likely, since she _was_ a fish and all. But why would he care? Her being alive only presented an obstacle to him, a yuckmouthed, fish-headed, spear-wielding obstacle at that. He should have just left her there to rot in all that armor. Better yet, he should have shoved her unconscious body into the flaming pit of lava underneath her; a good immolation wouldn't have hurt, right?   
  
However, that was exactly what Flowey wanted. He had to have been somewhat responsible for Undyne's animosity towards Sergio. It seemed perfectly logical: Getting Undyne to hate Sergio and pursue him would have made it easier to a. get the last human soul to break the barrier, or b. get Sergio to kill Undyne and help progress Flowey's plan. The whole situation fit perfectly into place for either of those two outcomes.  
  
But there was still a third way, a way to thwart Flowey's plans for underworld domination as well as to stay alive. He had to help her, then stay out of her way when she came to. Besides, despite her murderous nature, Undyne happened to be Bryson's idol. He remembered complaining that he had to pay Bryson back for standing between him and Undyne. Well, what better way than to keep Bryson's idol alive?  
  
The only question was, how could Sergio revive her? After quickly scanning around, he found a convenient water cooler standing a few feet away. He filled a cup, then poured water onto Undyne's head.  
  
"Ay, getcha self up. I don't need you dyin' on me."   
  
Undyne's eyes slowly opened, causing Sergio to move back a couple feet. The warrior stood up, staring at Sergio as he nonchalantly tossed the cup and caught it in his hand. The umbrella was at his side, ready for use if he needed it. She was speechless as she realized what just happened, her mouth hanging agape.  
  
"You lucky Bryson's my boy," Sergio remarked, leaning against the water cooler. He coolly filled the cup back up with water and took a few sips.  
  
What Undyne would do next was unpredictable, but Sergio thought a passive front would have helped to cease the conflict the two of them had. Dozens of scenarios played in his head where Undyne would have tried to kill him in his supposed false sense of security.   
  
But nothing like that happened. Undyne produced a neutral expression and walked back down the bridge, not saying a word. Sergio waited until she was out of his view before continuing forth.   
  
 _Wasn't there somethin' I missed earlier? Oh, yeah, the phone call._ He didn't even need to look at the caller ID to know who had called him during the chase scene. The phone read, "1 Missed Call(s) from: Papyrus." He hit the Enter button to call him back.  
  
The phone rang for a few seconds before he answered. "Hello?"  
  
"It's Serge. Ya called me?"  
  
"Ah, yes! Yes, I was just thinking, you, me, and Undyne should hang out sometime! I think you two would make great pals!"  
  
"Uh, you sure 'bout that? 'Cause this is soundin' like a trap."   
  
"Trap? There is no trap! Remember how I said I wanted to make it up to you?"  
  
"Psh, I ain't forget about that. It's just a matter a' whether or not this is a ruse." Beat. "But I been wrong before. Where's this hangout happenin' at?"   
  
"At Undyne's house in Waterfall. Do you know where the ghost's house is?"  
  
"Yeah."   
  
"It's to the left of that house. It's in the shape of a big fish head. You can't miss it! Can't wait to see you there!" _Click!_  
  
So, he had an appointment to attend after investigating whatever was in front of him. It was a large, white-walled building with large red letters above the double doors that said "LAB." He figured he could have probably scrounged a few things in there before heading back out. Sergio walked to the entrance, the front doors opening automatically. Either the lab was open to the public, or someone had been expecting him....He tightened his grip on his umbrella before walking on.  
  
His footsteps echoed on the sky blue tile floor. Though the inside of the lab was dim, the first thing he noticed was a large screen planted in the left wall. Curious, he glanced at it. He saw short, black hair and a dark person's neck...wait a minute. That was the back of _his_ head. The camera he found in Waterfall had to be connected to this! This laboratory belonged to the person who'd been tracking him!  
  
He pushed onward, ready to meet whatever would come out next. Given the room's darkness, he trod slowly to avoid bumping into anything. Another automatic door opened somewhere ahead of Sergio, then it closed. Then the lights turned on.  
  
Sergio viewed a yellow female reptilian creature with glasses, buck teeth, and a white lab coat. The back of her head looked spiky, similar to that of Lisa Simpson's. She had a shorter height, attributed to the monster's hunched back.   
  
When the monster saw Sergio, her jaw dropped.   
  
"Oh. My. God. I didn't expect you to show up so soon!" She was practically bouncing on her feet, her hands on her head in anguish. "I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and...."  
  
What did this monster expect from him? Was she going to treat him like a regular guest, despite species differences?  
  
"Umm...hiya! I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's regal scientist!"  
  
She sounded friendly enough, if not a bit anxious. Definitely a breath of fresh air after surviving Undyne for the umpteenth time.   
  
"I would intraduce myself, but that's prolly unnecessary, since you goin' PRISM on the undaground. What's wit all the cameras spyin' on me, doc?"  
  
"D-d-don't worry, I'm not one of the 'bad guys!' Actually, since you stepped out of the ruins, I've, uh, been 'observing' your journey through my console. Your fights, your friendship, everything!"  
  
"Since you been watchin' me all dis time, ya must know what I do ta monstas that step up ta me." Sergio was a bit wary about someone who had been spying on him for the majority of his adventure. "So long as ya don't try nothin', there won't _be_ nothin'."  
  
"Well, I admit, I was originally going to stop you, but, watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them. Plus, you don't really seem all that dangerous?"  
  
She had a point there; he attacked very few monsters throughout his underground romp. He even saved somebody who was trying to kill him. A threatening front would have fallen flat if she didn't see his life on the surface.  
  
"S-so, uh, now I want to help you!" Alphys continued.  
  
"No kiddin'?" Sergio said skeptically.  
  
"Of course! Using my knowledge, I can easily guide you through Hotland! I know a way right to Asgore's castle, no problem!"  
  
"Well, shoot, let's go, then!" If Four-Eyes was being true to her word, she would have been the most helpful monster he'd met down here, second only to Bryson.   
  
"Well, actually, um, there's just a tiny issue," said Alphys shyly. "A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something."  
  
"Go on...." Why was she looking so guilty all of a sudden?   
  
"Anyway, recently I decided to make him more useful. You know, just some small, practical adjustments. Like, um, like anti...anti-human...combat features?"  
  
Sergio sighed. "Lemme guess. You knew that I was here, so you decided ta turn ya robot into a deathbot."  
  
"Um...yes?" Breaking out in a nervous sweat, Alphys twiddled her fingers as she quickly went on, "But after seeing that you weren't as much of a threat as preconceived, I knew I had to remove those features! Unfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so....And, um...now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?"  
  
Sergio's mouth flattened, taking a deep breath to quell his looming distress. "Great. First, I had an angry pizza toppin' chasin' me down, and now I gotta deal wit a Terminata." He threw his hands up in resignation. "Well, since you built 'im, you gotta know how ta destroy 'im."  
  
"N-n-no, there's no need to destroy him! But, umm, hopefully we won't run into him!"   
  
"And if we do?" Sergio asked skeptically.   
  
A metallic _CLANG_  followed Sergio's inquiry, the ground vibrating under his feet. Then another. Alphys raised an eyebrow in curiosity.  
  
"Did you hear something?" she asked.  
  
The _clangs_ got closer and faster. Over time, Alphys figured out what was happening.   
  
"Oh, no..." she said, wide-eyed. _CRASH!_  
  
A brilliant light blinded Sergio before he was enveloped in total darkness.   
  
"Ohhhh, yes!" he heard a somewhat effeminate voice say. "Welcome, beauties...." A short drum roll preceded a spotlight shining down on a rectangular robot, the same bot that Sergio saw as the mascot for the monster Internet search engine. It had broken through the wall, a gaping hole with tear marks at the edges behind it. It had two metallic arms and a front screen with red and yellow panels in it. The robot stood on one wheel instead of feet. "...To today's quiz show!"  
  
The area slightly brightened up as upbeat music accompanied a prefabricated applause track. Confetti fell upon him and Alphys as flashing lights appeared above the robot.   
  
"Oh, boy, I can already tell it's gonna be a great show!" announced the robot, speaking into a held microphone. "Everyone give a big hand for our wonderful contestant!" More prefab applause; guess this impromptu show wasn't expected to have a live audience.   
  
"What _is_ all a' this?" Sergio wondered aloud.  
  
The robot turned to Sergio. "Never played before, gorgeous?" _Gorgeous?_ "No problem! It's simple! There's only one rule! Answer correctly...or you die!"  
  
"WHAT?! Nah, I'm outta here!" Sergio turned on his foot and dashed toward the front door. In the dim light, he saw bars close right in front of the door, preventing his escape. There weren't any windows around, so he was truly stuck here.   
  
"Ah, running away before you play? You don't have a sense of drama, do you?" the robot chastised.  
  
"I could give a crap about a sense of drama! I'm tryna survive!" Sergio retorted.  
  
"Oooh, a feisty one! There _is_ star quality in you yet, darling. But if you wish to survive, step to the podium." The robot extended an arm to a raised podium with a screen on it. Sergio's eyes flicked to Alphys, who nodded at him.   
  
There was no getting out of it. He needed to play this game until either he or Alphys could come up with an escape plan. "Aight, whateva," he said, approaching the podium. He pointed a finger at the robot and added, "And _don't_ call me 'dawlin'.'"

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?:_**

_****"If this 'hangout' turns out ta be a setup, ya better hope I never find ya."_

_.     .     ._

_"I came 'round ta see if he could be trusted."_

_"And you think_ you  _can be trusted down here?!"_

_.     .     ._

_"One final rematch! All out on both sides! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE! NOW COME ON! HIT ME WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT!"_


	7. The Biggie Smalls Philosophy

**Chapter 7: The Biggie Smalls Philosophy**  
  
"Let's start off with an easy one!" Mettaton announced into the microphone. "What is the prize for answering correctly?"  
  
Sergio saw the question listed on a screen in the wall, as well as on the podium's screen. Four answer choices were presented:  
  
A. Money  
B. Mercy  
C. A new car  
D. More questions  
  
He figured that if the robot's main purpose was to kill humans, the first three would have been out the window. He said, "Wit my luck, it's mo' questions." He tapped D on the podium. A little fanfare noise accompanied his answer, indicating a correct choice.  
  
"Right! Sounds like you get it!" said Mettaton, wheeling around in enthusiasm. Alphys gave a thumbs up, passively watching as the game of death ensued. Sergio let out a sigh of relief and told himself to be careful; one slip of the finger, and he'd spell out his own death. "Here's your terrific prize: What is the king's full name?"  
  
A. Lord Fluffybuns  
B. Fuzzy Pushover  
C. Asgore Dreemurr  
D. Dr. Friendship  
  
Choice C was the only choice that looked like an actual name. That, and he doubted anybody who killed six kids would have been dubbed Dr. Friendship. He tapped C. Another small fanfare. Confetti fell from the ceiling once again.  
  
"Correct! What a terrific answer!" Mettaton exclaimed, wheeling around the lab floor. "Enough about you, let's talk about me!"  
  
"But we ain't-" Sergio began.  
  
"What are robots made of?"  
  
A. Hopes and Dreams  
B. Metal and Magic  
C. Snips and Snails  
D. Sugar and Spice  
  
Okay, so this quiz show probably wasn't that bad after all. Maybe the monsters had figured humans as stupid creatures. Granted, they weren't completely off the mark, but they were testing the wrong hood rat. He tapped B.  
  
"Oh, too easy for you, huh?" Mettaton asked Sergio.  
  
Were they about to get harder? "Nah, it's jest my lucky day," Sergio answered, popping his collar. He wasn't wrong; all his encounters with Undyne had to mean something.  
  
"Here's another easy one for you...." Mettaton didn't read a question this time, but let it be displayed on the screen. It was a generic mathematics story problem involving trains and velocity and when the trains would meet. It didn't seem that bad, given that Sergio was adept in solving them. Then he realized that the question was being timed. There wasn't enough time to try to figure out the problem mentally....  
  
He flicked his eyes back and forth as he tried to piece together the problem in his head. _Drop the two, carry the one...._ The stress had obstructed his academic faculties, and his time was running out. Then he looked at Alphys in desperation. Her face was strained, and her hands....wait a minute. She was providing the ASL sign for the letter D. If she was truly rooting for him, this choice would have been correct.   
  
Sergio tightened his grip on the umbrella at his side and tapped D, holding his breath. He exhaled when he heard the fanfare, more confetti being blasted from the ceiling. Thank goodness he lived in New York; otherwise, he probably wouldn't have had any idea what Alphys was signing.  
  
"Wonderful! I'm astounded, folks!" chirped Mettaton. Which reminded him: _Where the cameras at?_ If this was truly being broadcast, there had to have been at least one visible camera. Maybe the robot was using one of Alphys's hidden cameras to showcase the event to the monster viewers.   
  
He flashed a wink to Alphys as the next question was pulled up.   
  
"Don't _count_ on your victory," warned Mettaton. The screen showed an animated image of flies around a jar. Sergio was tasked to give how many were there.  
  
The problem was, they were bouncing around too fast to count, whether on the podium screen or the big screen. _Alphys, carry me home._ He was aware of Mettaton's presence, so he pointed at the screen as if counting the flies one by one. He glanced at Alphys, who signed the letter A. He tapped the answer. Fanfare. Confetti.  
  
"Correct! You're so lucky today! Let's play memory game...." A still image of half a frog's face appeared on-screen.   
  
A. Froggit  
B. Whimsun  
C. Moldsmal  
D. Mettaton  
  
His gut reaction was to tap A, but he thought twice. First of all, after two consecutive hard questions, why would there be a randomly easy question? Second, Sergio recalled Mettaton's sentiment earlier: "Enough about you, let's talk about me." Third, the third question asked what robots were made of. Given the flamboyant nature of the robot, it was obvious that he was full of himself. Fourth, Alphys was signing the fourth choice. He tapped choice D.  
  
"I'm so flattered you remembered! But can you get this one? Would you smooch a ghost?"  
  
A. Heck yeah  
B. Heck yeah  
C. Heck yeah  
D. Heck yeah  
  
Maybe only one of them would dictate progression. Sergio's finger circled over the answers, trying to decide which one would work. He looked at Alphys, who merely produced a scowl of disbelief. _I'm wit ya there._ He tapped C. A lower-pitched fanfare played before Mettaton said, "Great answer! I love it!"  
  
The robot continued, "Here's a simple one: How many letters in the name Mettaton?"   
  
A. 11  
B. 6  
C. 8  
D. 10  
  
He was about to tap C when more Ns were appended to Mettaton's name. The letters extended and curved at the edge of the screen, and the answer choices rose accordingly. They all were rising at the same rate, so if his hunch was correct....He tapped C.   
  
"Of course that was easy for you! Time to break out the big guns! In the dating simulation video game, _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_ , what is Mew Mew's favorite food?"  
  
"Bruh! Do I _look_ like I play-"  
  
"Oh, oh! I know this one!" Alphys piped in. "It's snail ice cream! In the fourth chapter everyone goes to the beach! And she buys ice cream for all of her friends! But it's snail flavor and she's the only one who wants it! It's one of my favorite parts of the game because it's a very powerful message about...friendship...and...." Her voice trailed off, realizing what she had done.  
  
Sergio put a palm to his face. "Ay, doc, you up here," he raised a hand, "and I need ya ta be down here," he lowered it.  
  
"Tsk tsk tsk. Alphys, Alphys, Alphys. You aren't _helping_ our contestant, are you?"  
  
"Uhhhh," Alphys hesitated, twiddling her fingers. "This, this isn't-"  
  
"Ooh, you should have told me! I'll ask a question you'll be sure to know the answer to! Human, who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?"  
  
A. Undyne  
B. Asgore  
C. The human  
D. Don't know  
  
Alphys was sweating bullets at this point. So, she was crushing on someone, huh? He analyzed the possibilities. Undyne? Please. It was obvious Alphys wasn't blind, so she couldn't have had any feelings for her.  
  
Asgore? Eh, possible. If monsters were anything like humans, famous people were going to be heralded for their looks eight times out of ten. The odds were in his favor if he chose that.  
  
The human? You could miss him with that. For Sergio, life had three constants: death, taxes, and nobody falling in love with him. It was just as well, since his love would only be directed towards three people: Franklin, Jackson, and Grant. Besides, Alphys first saw him a couple of hours ago via hidden cameras. Any crush she hypothetically could have had on him would have been shattered within five minutes.  
  
He was leaning toward choosing Asgore, but he stopped and thought about potential consequences. If it happened to be Asgore, Sergio doubted she would have been the only one to have publicly announced it in the underground. Nevertheless, he figured it would have been humiliating to have your unrequited love pronounced to a large population for a normal person; this probably would have destroyed a nervous wreck like Alphys.   
  
Why did he care? For one, she did say that she would help him get through Hotland. Second, she came through in the clutch for a few of the questions. He would spare whatever public image she established for herself. He tapped D. To his surprise, the small fanfare played with his choice.  
  
"Correct. Dr. Alphys has a crush on...the unknowable," Mettaton asserted.  
  
"Say what now?" Sergio asked. Alphys, however, pointedly squinted at the robot.  
  
"You see, Alphys believes that there is someone out there, someone watching her, someone she thinks is 'cute' and 'interesting.' Hello, theoretical person. Dr. Alphys likes you. Too bad you are not real." A mean-sounding laugh track played after the bot's last statement.   
  
"H-hey, I've done research on this! There are alternate universes out there! S-someday, maybe, I could meet them...."  
  
"Alternate universes, bruh?" Sergio shook his head. "Jest take the L, man."  
  
"You said the exact same thing about _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Person, if you're out there...how about giving us a sign right now?"  
  
A few seconds of silence.  
  
"That settles that, doesn't it?" Mettaton concluded. Sergio nodded at Alphys, as if to say "You welcome." Alphys responded with a nervous grin. "Well, well, well, with Dr. Alphys helping you, the show has no dramatic tension! We can't go on like this! But. But! This was just the pilot episode! Next up, more drama! More romance! More bloodshed!"  
  
"Bloodshed? Not a chance, homie! They call me the Bee Gees in these streets!" Sergio retorted, folding his arms.   
  
Mettaton chuckled. "See what you have to look forward to, darlings? Until next time!" The robot shuddered as his appendages phased into its body. It rocket-launched itself out of the area, and light was restored unto the laboratory once again.   
  
There was a small pause before Alphys said, "Well, that was certainly something."  
  
"No kiddin'. But I'm still here." He patted her shoulder. "Good lookin' out on them questions.   
  
Alphys blushed. "Ah, it's n-nothing."   
  
"Nothin'? Without you, I prolly woulda been zapped or cut up or whatever by that robot! I mean, granted, ya _did_ create the robot ta begin with and ya _did_ spy on me, but what ya did jest now...well, it makes ya aight in my book."  
  
Stammering, Alphys said, "S-s-so, what now?"  
  
"Whaddya mean?"  
  
"What are you gonna do now?"   
  
"Heh. Do it matta? It look like you got the entire undaground on lock," Sergio said, gesturing to Alphys's computer. "It don't really matta what I say, long as you see me....I guess if you know this place in and out, I could call you or somethin' if I need help."  
  
"Great idea! Let's just see that, uh...." Sergio had already pulled out his phone and held it out for Alphys. She stared at it as if she couldn't believe what she saw. "W-where did you get that phone? It's ANCIENT!"  
  
"Ay, but you know it works," said Sergio, shrugging.  
  
"But it doesn't even have texting!" She snatched the phone out of his hand. "W-wait a second, please!" Before Sergio could protest, she sped to a room at the end of the hall. A series of hammer clacks, motor engine revs, and what sounded like a scream...what was she doing in there?   
  
Before Sergio could peek at what was happening, Alphys returned with a bigger, sleeker phone. "Here, I upgraded it for you!" She handed him the new phone. "It can do texting, items, it's got a key chain...I even signed you up for the underground's number one social network! Now we're officially friends!" she concluded with a nervous laugh.  
  
"You mentioned that it can 'do items.' What's that mean?"  
  
"You know those boxes around the underground where you can put stuff in them and access them from other boxes?"  
  
"Yeah, but I got my backpack."  
  
"...Right. Well, if you put anything in the boxes, you could access them with your phone now."  
  
"Uh-huh. I'mma keep that in mind." He stuffed the new phone in his cargo pocket. "Ay, listen, I got some otha mattas to attend to. You keep doin' you."  
  
Alphys waved him goodbye as he exited the lab, the automatic doors closing behind him. He took a moment to look at his new phone. It came with a touch screen, front and rear facing cameras, volume buttons on the side...it was just like the ones in the surface world. He turned it on. He saw a variety of application icons, one of which being "UnderNet." This had to be the social network Alphys was talking about. He tweaked his account so that he had a better password than "12345678" ( _Thanks, Alphys_ ) and that he had a profile picture of his face. He later scrolled through the interface of UnderNet as he walked to his next appointment.  
  


## .     .     .

  
"Oh-ho! The human arrives!" announced Papyrus as Sergio found Undyne's house, which did in fact look like a fish head. Piano music emanated from inside. _Never took 'er ta be the artsy type._ The human tightly held his umbrella as he approached the skeleton. "Are you ready to hang out with Undyne?"  
  
His face grave, Sergio answered while pointing at him, "Lemme get one thang straight wit you, Papyrus. I'm trustin' that I'mma be able ta get outta here alive. If this 'hangout' turns out ta be a setup, ya better hope I never find ya. Comprende?"   
  
Papyrus sighed. "I hope that after this, you will learn to trust me better, Sergio." Whoa. This was the first time Papyrus referred to him with his name, rather than "human." He was serious about this. The skeleton perked up before continuing, "But I take it you are ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be."  
  
"All right! Stand behind me!" Papyrus turned around and lifted a hand to knock on the door, which was in the shape of fish teeth. Before that, however, he showed a yellow bone to Sergio. "Psst, make sure to give her this!"  
  
"A bone?"  
  
"Just trust me! She loves these!"  
  
Papyrus knocked on the door. The piano music stopped. The teeth-door opened vertically, revealing part of a black tank top and a blue arm on the other side. Those could have belonged to anyone here, but the voice was certainly Undyne's.  
  
"Hi, Papyrus! Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?"   
  
 _"Extra-private?" Hol' up! What kinda "trainin'" Papyrus be doin'?!_ She sounded a lot friendlier than when she was talking to Sergio, which was logical. It wasn't as if Papyrus was the key to the monsters' freedom.   
  
"You bet I am!" _Oh, naw._ "And I brought a friend!" _OH, NAW._ Papyrus moved to the side to show Sergio at Undyne's doorstep. For a brief moment, Undyne didn't actually look all that strong in the face. She actually looked respectable.  
  
Key words being "for a brief moment."   
  
"Hi. I don't think we've...." Undyne's face twitched as she recognized who Papyrus's "friend" was.   
  
Sergio's face was neutral, while Papyrus eagerly watched, his eyes flicking from one person to the other.  
  
"Why don't...you two...come in?" Undyne said grudgingly.   
  
Sergio looked at Papyrus, almost telepathically telling him to go in first. Fortunately, the skeleton was enthused enough to walk right in, wiping his feet on the doormat. The human followed him in.  
  
The living room had kitchen appliances in the far end, no walls separating the living and cooking areas. To Sergio's left, he saw the piano that he heard earlier; to his right, a dining table. Opposite the entrance wall and to the left, there was a door that most likely led to Undyne's bedroom or a bathroom.  
  
Sergio had barely moved away from the door and opted not to take his shoes off; he might have needed a quick escape later on.  
  
"Here, Undyne. My friend brought a gift for you, all on his own!" Papyrus said as he presented the yellow bone to her. Undyne and Sergio made eye contact, the latter scowling at Papyrus. Sergio knew that Undyne knew that the bone thing was the skeleton's idea. It made too much sense.   
  
Regardless, Undyne said, "Uh, thanks." She took the bone and went on, "I'll, uh, put it with the others." She opened a drawer in the kitchen, the hollow contents rattling inside. How many times did she receive such a gift? "So are we ready to start?"  
  
Papyrus suddenly looked as if he'd forgotten something. "Whoopsy doopsy! I just remembered, I have to go to the bathroom! You two have fun!" Then, like a madman, Papyrus dashed toward the window on the left and jumped through it, the glass shattering. He ran as though he had stolen something.   
  
Welp, Sergio figured the door on the far end wouldn't have led to a bathroom. He crossed that out in his mind.  
  
Undyne glowered at him before saying, "So why are YOU here? To rub your victory in my face? To humiliate me even further? IS THAT IT?!"   
  
Sergio resignedly raised his hands, the umbrella in one of them. "I'mma need you ta chill for a minute."  
  
"Chill? CHILL?! A _human_ is in my house right now, and he wants me to _CHILL?_ Answer the question, human! Why are you here?!"  
  
"Look, it wasn't my idea. Papyrus wanted me ta come ova here so we could hang out. I came 'round ta see if he could be trusted."  
  
"And you think that _you_ can be trusted down here?!"   
  
"I can, provided that bustas don't be throwin' spears at me! It's like the Biggie Smalls philosophy: I only got beef with those who violate me."   
  
A mirthless laugh from Undyne. "I've already told you, human! You're the enemy of everyone's hopes and dreams! If you weren't my houseguest, I'd be beating you up right now!"  _That ain't stop Toriel_. "What, did you come here thinking that I would be YOUR friend?"  
  
"Well, befriendin' ya would be betta than fightin' ya," Sergio conceded.   
  
"Oh, really? Well, I accept! Let's both frolic in the fields of friendship!" Her words didn't match her countenance, however, as she still frowned. "NOT! We are _enemies,_ human, and we will _always_ be enemies. I'd have half a mind to spear you right now! Now get out of my house!"   
  
 _Half a mind is right._ Sergio took two steps back towards the door.   
  
"Dang, what a shame," Papyrus said through the shattered window. "I thought Undyne could be friends with you. But I guess I overestimated her. She's just not up to the challenge."  
  
What was Papyrus doing talking about Undyne like that, as if she wasn't there? Sergio knew that Papyrus could see her and that she could hear her....Wait. Was this intentional? He flicked his eyes toward Undyne, who looked agitated. Papyrus was exploiting her competitive weakness for Sergio's sake. _Dang, Papyrus, you slicka than I thought._  
  
"Challenge? What?" Undyne protested, but the skeleton had already started leaving. "Papyrus, wait a second! Darn it!" Then she turned to Sergio. "He thinks I can't be friends with you? Fuhuhu, what a joke! I could make friends with a wimpy loser like you any day! I'll show him!"  
  
"Oh, so you tellin' me you know what's good?" _Okay, I see you, Papyrus._ The skeleton's plan was working. Now it was Sergio's job to follow through.   
  
"I know that we're not just gonna be friends. We're going to be..." Undyne brought her hands to her jaws, "BESTIES. I'll make you like me so much, you won't be able to think of anyone else!"  
  
"Hol' up, what exactly Papyrus sign me up for?"  
  
"Fuhuhuhu, it's the PERFECT REVENGE!"   
  
"Revenge for what?!"  
  
She didn't answer the question, but said, "Why don't you have a seat?" in an unnaturally friendly tone. She gestured to the table on Sergio's right. This sudden turn from standoffish to welcoming was jarring; Sergio would not let his guard down for one moment. Nonetheless, he cautiously took a seat at the table.   
  
"Comfortable?" asked Undyne.  
  
"Uh, sure?"  
  
"I'll get you something to drink."  
  
Undyne walked toward the refrigerator and got out an array of drinks that ranged from tea to soda, setting them on the kitchen counter.   
  
"All set! What would you like?"  
  
This would have been a perfectly low-key way to kill Sergio: via poisoning. It was obvious that Sergio's prowess in combat was a force to be reckoned with. Why not kill him with something more...insidious?  
  
But Sergio played along. He picked the first thing he saw. "Guess I'll have the tea."   
  
"Tea, huh? Coming right up!"   
  
Sergio watched Undyne closely as the monster prepared the tea, watchful of any funny-looking ingredients. She put a pot of water onto the stove and turned the stove on. Beaming at him, Undyne said, "It'll take a moment for the water to boil." Sergio noticed sweat forming on her brow, as if she was straining to keep real emotions in; it wouldn't be long before she snapped, and Sergio would be ready.  
  
He heard the pot bubbling on the oven. Undyne mixed the tea ingredients into the water, stirred it, and poured it into a fish-shaped tea cup. She brought the cup over to the table and sat on the end opposite Sergio, sliding the cup over to the human. He held the cup by the handle and stared into the contents. The tea had a light brown color to it, steam condensing on the outside of the cup and rising from inside.   
  
"Careful, it's hot," Undyne told him. She still looked as though she were treating him as a guest instead of an enemy, but his trust in the general monster population was still shaky. She _had_ to have put something in the tea. He may have poured water on Undyne, but it was doubtful if that would have been enough to make her do a complete 180 in her stance on humans.   
  
He lifted the cup to his lips, tightly closing his mouth on the brim. He let the tea lightly touch his upper lip, recoiling slightly at the scalding temperature. He gently set the cup down and scanned Undyne's face for any slight expression that would betray any concealed intentions. However, he found none.  
  
"It's pretty good, right?" said Undyne.  
  
"Yeah," Sergio answered simply. One of the best things somebody could do when lying was to keep things basic.  
  
"Nothing but the best for my ABSOLUTE PRECIOUS FRIEND!" Whoa. She went back from zero to a hundred quite unexpectedly. If she was lying, at least she was being consistent.   
  
Sergio wiped the excess tea from his upper lip. "Heh-heh, I doubt 'precious' is anywhere close to the right word when talkin' 'bout me."   
  
Silence. The two made eye contact for a few seconds before Undyne closed her eyes, sighing.   
  
"You know, it's funny that you chose THAT tea, golden flower tea. It's Asgore's favorite kind."  
  
Sergio abruptly coughed when he heard the ingredient. _Golden flower tea?_ What, would he turn into a megalomaniacal flower bent on underworld domination if he actually drank the tea?!  
  
"Asgore, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. And, now that I think about it, you kind of remind me of him." Undyne said that so earnestly, without the slightest hint of guile.   
  
"Glad I can relate to 'im," Sergio snidely remarked. It was always reassuring to know you were similar to a kid murderer. "But I know it ain't 'cause a' my 'regal disposition.'"  
  
"Psh, you wish!" replied Undyne, scoffing. "In reality, it's that you're both total weenies!"  
  
"Oh. Right. Weenies." Not exactly how he'd describe Asgore given the rundown he'd gotten from Toriel.  
  
"Well, sort of...."  
  
Another pause.   
  
"Ya know, I was a pretty hotheaded kid," Undyne said. This staggered Sergio; the two went from small talk to Undyne talking about her personal life. Was she...was she trying to connect with him?  
  
Welp, listening to her was better than swatting spears away.  
  
"Why don't that surprise me?" Sergio watched his tone; instead of sounding completely cutting, he presented himself in a lightly joshing matter. He hoped he wasn't laying it on too thick.   
  
"I'd be surprised if you were," Undyne told him, smiling in spite of herself. "Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore."  
  
"No joke? You squared up to the _king_  a' the undaground jest so you could get some props?"  
  
"Emphasis on 'tried.' I couldn't land a single blow on him! And worse, the whole time, he refused to fight back!"  
  
"Makes sense, considerin' that if he was in any real danger, he woulda called in 'is guards."  
  
"You might think so, but you don't know him like I know him. Like, I was so humiliated after he beat me. Then he apologized and said something goofy, like 'Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?' I said yes, and from then on, he trained me."  
  
"Wait...he trained you personally? He ain't have 'is guards train ya?"  
  
Undyne shook her head. "Nope. He trained me himself. It was strange getting magic training from the big guy himself, though. I had heard that the king before Asgore had a sort of magician who specialized in that sort of thing. But what's special about Asgore is that he's a boss monster. They have magical abilities that are unmatched by anyone else in the underground."  
  
"Hence why he trained you?"  
  
"Exactly. One day, during practice, I was finally able to knock him down. I felt...bad. But he was beaming. I had never seen anyone more proud to get their butt kicked," Undyne chuckled. "Anyway, long story short, he kept training me. And now, I'm the head of the Royal Guard! So _I'm_ the one who gets to train dorks to fight, like Papyrus!" she went on, her chest puffed out in pride. Her smile slowly faded as she continued, "But, um, to be honest, I don't know if I can ever let him into the Royal Guard. Don't tell him I said that!"  
  
Sergio made a zipping motion over his mouth. He was genuinely intrigued by this Undyne character. He didn't know what he did in order to get her to tell her life story, but he was somewhat glad he did it.   
  
"Why he cain't join? He seem determined enough."  
  
"That's never been an issue." Undyne folded her hands together on the table, looking down in thought. "It's never been that he was weak, either. He's actually pretty freaking tough! It's just that...he's too innocent and nice! I mean, he was SUPPOSED to capture you, and he ended up being friends with you instead!" Sergio merely responded with a shrug. "I could NEVER send him into battle! He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds!"  
  
"Uh, question. You said 'send 'im inta battle.' Who y'all plannin' ta attack anytime soon?"  
  
"Well, the Royal Guard _was_ established to take the fight to the humans." Undyne's eyes darted toward Sergio's in an obvious intimidation attempt. Sergio didn't budge. "But that isn't all. From what you must have seen, you might think that the underground is a totally peaceful place."  
  
"Yeah, if you ain't a human." Sergio shot the same look she had given him for similar results.  
  
"You'd be surprised, then. Not everyone is as nice as Papyrus or his big brother. In fact, some people down here aren't exactly satisfied with how the king runs things. The decisions he's made before...didn't always go so well with everyone. It's our job to make sure things remain under control here."  
  
Fascinating. So the monsters weren't impervious to insurrection. The monsters were seeming more humanlike the longer Sergio stayed down there.   
  
"But back to Papyrus. Because he's a bit of a softie, I started teaching him how to cook so that he could do something else in his life...."   
  
Her eye bucked with surprise. "Sorry I talked for so long. You're probably out of tea, aren't you?"  
  
Uh-oh. She expected him to drink more tea. Either she _did_ poison it, or she considered it rude if he didn't finish it.   
  
"Nah, I'm good. I was jest lettin' it cool down and-" Undyne slammed her fist on the table.   
  
"Wait a second. Papyrus...his cooking lesson....HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW!"   
  
"Uh...I'm sorry?" He had no idea how he could have helped in that regard. Papyrus still wasn't back from his trip to the bathroom. Sergio figured maybe a quick call would-  
  
"And if he's not here to have it, YOU'LL HAVE TO HAVE IT FOR HIM!"  
  
With an eyebrow raised, Sergio said, "Wait, why I got to-?" But Undyne had already leapt from her seat to the kitchen counter, kicking the materials off the appliances.  
  
"That's right! Nothing has brought Papyrus and I closer than cooking! Which means that if I give _you_ his lesson, WE'LL BECOME CLOSER THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!"  
  
The activity itself didn't present a clear and present danger to Sergio, but the impassioned manner in which Undyne coordinated the event was unsettling to say the least. Was she just really into cooking as she was being a hero in the underground?   
  
"Fuhuhu! Afraid? We're gonna be best friends!"  
  
She made a large horizontal leap toward Sergio, landing on the table. Sergio rose from his seat, slowly backing away.   
  
"Undyne, let's be reasonable for a secOONNND!" His plea for rationality was ignored as Undyne grabbed him by the shoulder and carried him in another large jump towards the counter, the human dropping his umbrella. How she managed to carry him throughout the entire jump was beyond him.   
  
After they landed, Undyne declared, "Let's start with the sauce!" She looked up and stomped down, causing fruits and vegetables to inexplicably fall from the ceiling. "Envision these vegetables as your greatest enemy!" Sergio closed his eyes and thought of Flowey's smug face after the flower first attacked him. "Now, pound them to dust with your fists!"  
  
"Won't this mess up your counter, though?"  
  
"DO IT!"  
  
Scared to see what would happen if he refused, Sergio hammer-punched the ingredients, thoroughly bruising them. He was unsure if he hit the ingredients satisfactorily, but Undyne assured, "Yeah! Yeah! Our hearts are uniting against these healthy ingredients!" She shoved him aside and remarked, "Now it's my turn!" With a kiai yell, she crushed all of the ingredients into juice in one strike, splattering all over the two.  
  
"Aw, not on the jacket," Sergio complained, wiping the juice from his face and clothes. What was on either of them couldn't be compared to what was on the counter.  
  
Undeterred, Undyne beamed, "Uh, we'll just scrape this into a bowl later. But for now...!" She stomped, shaking the whole house. Another pot fell from out of nowhere, landing onto the stove. "...We add the noodles! Homemade noodles are the best! BUT I JUST BUY STORE BRAND! THEY'RE THE CHEAPEST!"   
  
The last few moments confirmed something on an entirely new level: Undyne was freaking insane. But, since no spears were involved, this was actually enjoyable to a degree. He could see why Papyrus would look forward to these lessons.   
  
"NGAAAH!" Then Undyne remembered that one didn't pound noodles for pasta. "Uh, just put them in the pot."  
  
Sergio grabbed the noodle box beside the pot and began to open it conventionally, carefully taking the tabs off one at a time from the top.  
  
"FASTER!"  
  
He desperately tore the box open and dropped all of the contents in the pot, losing his grip on the box. He extracted the box from the pot before Undyne advanced.   
  
"Yeah! I'm into it! All right! Now it's time to stir the pasta! As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir, THE BETTER IT IS! Ready? Let's do it!"   
  
Undyne produced a wooden spoon and forced it down into the noodles, then offered to let Sergio stir first. Noting the intense nature in which she urged him to cook, he forcefully stirred the noodles as they softened in the hot water.   
  
"Stir harder!"  
  
"It ain't as easy as it look!"  
  
"Harder!"   
  
"I'm tryin'!"  
  
"HARDER!"  
  
Sergio was feeling a burn in his biceps now. He stirred faster than he thought any human could possibly stir.  
  
"Ugh," said Undyne in disgust, "let me do it!"   
  
He heard a spear materialize above him and jumped back to avoid it. The spear repeatedly impaled the pot, denting the metal and making it unrecognizable from scrap metal.   
  
"Fuhuhu! That's the stuff! All right, now for the final step: TURN UP THE HEAT! Let the stovetop symbolize your passion!"  
  
"Or my mixtape," he said with a smirk. He turned the heat up halfway, uncertain of how hot he needed to make it.   
  
"Hotter!" He turned it to three-quarters of the way. "HOTTER!" Sergio looked at Undyne warily, reluctant to turn the heat up further. At this rate, he was going to start a fire.   
  
"I'mma jest say this, I ain't responsible for what'll happen." Sergio kept turning the dial until it completed two revolutions.  
  
"DON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK!"  
  
"Do you realize what ya makin' me do?!" He turned the dial half a revolution further. Then the pot started to ignite at the bottom. "Aight, this has gone on long enough!" He attempted to turn the dial back when Undyne called him out.   
  
"Don't you DARE touch that dial! Hotter, darn it!"   
  
It was a hostage situation. He was being forced to turn the dial further, making the flames below the pot bigger. His umbrella was too far away for a quick recovery in case the monster tried to stab him.   
  
At this point, the flames completely enveloped the pot, its hissing becoming higher in pitch. The flames spread quickly from the pot to the rest of the stove. Sergio about-faced and raced for the door.  
  
"We gotta get outta-" _BOOM!_ Blinding light and a fierce sound of flames exploded throughout the room. Sergio was knocked off his feet and sent on his stomach from the eruption behind him.   
  
When Sergio opened his eyes, the room had a bright orange tint to it. Flames licked the ground in sparse spots. He coughed from the smoke as he pushed himself on all fours, crawling to avoid the smoke. He picked up his closed umbrella and looked for Undyne.  
  
Surprisingly enough, the monster wasn't moved from her spot. The explosion occurred right next to her, and it didn't even faze her! Regardless, she was still covered in ash.   
  
Sergio had set her house on fire. If Undyne was looking for a really good reason to hate him, well, Sergio certainly spelled one out for her. He tightly grasped the umbrella in case she decided to square up.  
  
"Wow. No wonder why Papyrus sucks at cooking," she said simply, seemingly indifferent to the state of her house. In fact, she was still smiling. "So, what's next? Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?"  
  
"Bruh...ya house is on fire." Now didn't seem like the time to look forward to other friendly outings.  
  
"So?" She put on a continued front of indifference until she gave it up. "Oh, who am I kidding? I really screwed this up, didn't I?"  
  
"What, the cookin'?"  
  
"Everything." Undyne sighed again. "I can't force you to like me, human. Some people just don't get along with each other."  
  
"I, uh, think we was startin' ta jell back at the table. It's jest that...ya made me set ya _house_ on _fire_. Why did ya tell me ta keep goin'?"  
  
"Because I didn't think things would end up _this_ bad! Listen, human, I understand if you don't want to be friends with me. And if we can't be friends...." Undyne shot him a dark look. "It means I can destroy you without regret!"  
  
Sergio took a step back, raising his umbrella, as the immediate area got darker around them despite the flames. Undyne got into a defensive stance, summoning another spear crossed across her midsection.  
  
"I've been defeated....My house is in shambles....I even failed to befriend you." Undyne sounded hurt in ways even she couldn't believe. "That's it. I don't care if you're my guest anymore. One final rematch! All out on both sides! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE! NOW COME ON! HIT ME WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT!"  
  
Was Undyne being serious right now? She was trying to fight him in conditions like these? Sergio would have said that she'd fallen off the deep end, but that event occurred long ago.  
  
So, he guessed it was true. Maybe it _was_ too late for either of them to gain redemption for their past beef. It seemed that the beef would continue until only one would leave the house.   
  
 _Nah, that cain't be the only way._  
  
He knew for a _fact_ that all the progress that the two of them made couldn't have been for nothing. There was still one more thing he could try before all was lost....  
  
He lowered his umbrella. "Look, Undyne. You tellin' ya self that ya failed ta befriend me, but you cain't be mo' wrong. This was the longest we interacted without a spear bein' involved. Now I know that when ya ain't tryna kill me, you actually ain't half bad." He held the umbrella backhanded. "I don't wanna fight ya 'cause I _know_ we could make thangs right. I _know_ we actually could be friends. But most of all...I _know_ I ain't tryna fight nobody in this burnin' buildin'."  
  
Undyne looked hesitant to attack, beginning to lower her own weapon, then brought it back up. "You're lying! You're suddenly pulling your stupid saccharine shtick on me now? What happened to the cocky version of yourself? What happened to the insults?"  
  
"Wasn't circumstances different back then? You kept throwin' spears at me even though I had nothin' ta do wit you. What I said back then wasn't no different from how you display _yo'_ spirit a' combat. But now that I know you betta, I respect ya enough so that I don't _want_ ta fight _or_ roast ya. I'm tryna extend an olive branch ta you now. And if you willin' ta jest drop all this beef, I would forgive ya."  
  
Sergio noticed Undyne's knuckles whiting over the spear handle and heard her steady, yet heavy breathing. She was going through serious contemplation on whether or not to turn Sergio into Swiss cheese.   
  
"I...I tried to KILL you...so many times...and you still don't have the guts to fight me head on...?"  
  
"Heh, you said it ya self. I'm a 'wimpy losa.'"  
  
Her face was still contorted with concentrated rage. Then suddenly, Undyne dropped her spear, the object vanishing before it hit the ground. "I...don't really want to hurt you either," Undyne went on solemnly, her expression neutral. "At first, I thought you were trying to pull something, but...someone who can find it in their heart to forgive someone so easily....You can't really find that everywhere. The way you just wanted to let it go...." She hmphed. "You're more like Asgore than you realize. You're not just some wimpy loser." She began smiling again. "You're a wimpy loser with a big heart!"  
  
The area brightened up around them. Safe. Sergio exhaled in relief.  
  
"Listen, human. It seems that you and Asgore are fated to fight. But knowing him, he probably doesn't want to. Talk to him. I'm sure you can persuade him to let you go home. Eventually, some mean human will fall down here, and I'll take _their_ soul instead! That makes sense, right?"  
  
Better that person than Sergio. "True."   
  
"Oh, and if you _do_ hurt Asgore, I'll take the human souls, cross the barrier, and beat the hell out of you," Undyne remarked with a scowl. "That's what friends are for, right?"  
  
That was a fair deal. "Guess you could say that." He fanned himself with his shirt collar. "Now let's get outta Dodge."  
  
The two exited the house, which had lit up its eyes to produce a threatening look. It was a relief to breathe fresh air again for Sergio.   
  
"Well, that was fun, huh? We'll have to hang out another time!"  
  
Sergio gave a resigned half smile. "Aight, but let someone _else_ cook next time."  
  
"Yeah...guess we'll have to find another place to hang out. In the meantime, I'll hang out with Papyrus. So, if you need me, drop by Snowdin, okay?"   
  
"What about your house? Shouldn't we call a fire department or somethin'?"  
  
"Ah, somebody'll get it sooner or later. Maybe. Oh, and if you need any help, just give Papyrus a ring, okay? Since we'll be in the same spot, I'll be able to talk, too!"  
  
"Sounds pretty chill."  
  
"Welp, later, punk!" Undyne took a light jog from the house and toward Snowdin.   
  
All right! So he had gotten one of his main concerns out of the way, so it should have been a straight shot from here to the barrier. Even though she had threatened to beat him up should he hurt Asgore, he didn't promise anything. Of course, he preferred to solve things nonviolently with the monsters. But if Asgore was as bad as Toriel said he was...as narrated before, Asgore might have had to catch some knuckles. If that would happen, Sergio would need to get to the surface, go to Manny's house to stock up on ammunition, and sleep with one eye open for a couple weeks. Then, he would have to employ the second part of the Biggie Smalls philosophy: "I shall annihilate thee."  
  
He was about to make his way to Hotland when a cheesy picture idea came to mind. He took out his phone. He made his first post on UnderNet: a self-portrait taken in front of Undyne's flaming house. It was captioned:  
  
when ya make a mixtape wit @coolskeleton95 #thehotness #undynecrazytho 

* * *

 

**Next time on** _**There Goes the...Underground?** _

_"Are you worried about meeting Asgore?"_

_"Considerin' 'is track record wit otha humans, I'd say my concern is justified."_

_.     .     ._

_"I loathe to think what would have happened to you without her!"_

_"Don't act like you care 'bout my well-bein' now, playboy."_

_.     .     ._

_"If dis king is as good as otha people say he is, he ain't lettin' me out without a fight."_


	8. On Some Double-Oh Agent Stuff

**Chapter 8: On Some Double-Oh Agent Stuff**  
  
 _"Heat for foes, shoppin' sprees with my fleet for clothes,_  
 _In Caribbean suites, deep, rippin' beats with flows...."_  
  
Sergio performed the rap in a short video he posted of himself on UnderNet, which had already gained eleven likes within fifteen minutes. He was surprised at how much of a following he had gained ever since he got the new phone from Alphys.   
  
Speaking of whom, he sent her a direct message on UnderNet.  
  
 _ay doc, where im supposed ta go from here?_ He was in Hotland, right in front of the lab.  
  
A read receipt appeared under his message a few seconds later. Then it showed that Alphys was typing.  
  
 _go to the lab and through the back door xP_  
  
After following Alphys's instructions, Sergio felt his phone vibrate. Alphys updated her status:  
  
 _just realized i didn't watch undyne fight sergio v.v_  
  
A few steps later, the phone vibrated again.  
  
 _well i know she's unbeatable i'll ask her abt it later ^.^_  
  
Another one.  
  
 _for now i gotta call sergio up and guide him =^.^=  
_  
Okay. This needed to stop. Sure, Sergio respected Alphys enough, but people could be quite different online than in real life. He turned off status notifications for all of his friends on UnderNet and continued on.   
  
The heat of the area reminded him of the most scorching summer days of New York. He took off his hoodie and tied the arms around his waist. He was led to a room with two conveyor belts, one going forward, the other backwards. Sergio took the former, lowering his center of gravity as he traveled on it; it wasn't as though the conveyor belts had guard rails on the sides. He found another set of conveyor belts, this set more elaborate than the previous one. He took the one on the left, adjusting to the belt's ninety-degree turns.   
  
After walking across a bridge of tubes, Sergio eyed a peculiar device on the ground. It was a small, square glassy platform with steam escaping from its edges. A red arrow pointed to a clearing a good twenty feet away. His brow furrowed.  
  
 _This is undaground rap, got the game down pat, takin' ya bars_ -Sergio pressed a button on his Bluetooth headset to answer his call.   
  
"Y-you're probably wondering about the platform in front of you," said Alphys on the line.  
  
"Yeah. What are they?"  
  
"They're pn-pneumatic platforms specifically designed to t-t-transport people from one destination to the next using built up pressure from the Core. Just s-s-step on them, and they'll bounce you across the gap. The arrows p-point to where they'll go."  
  
"They'll bounce me? You sure this is safe?"  
  
"I-I'm sure! They've been tested many times before!"   
  
"Aight..." Sergio said skeptically before ending the call. He tiptoed towards the steaming platform, stopping when his feet stepped on the pipes surrounding it. He considered how he should have gotten onto the pad. Then he took a small hop and landed on the platform with both feet. He sprung forward after landing, clearing the gap with ease. He landed on the other side with a forward roll, his parkour habits kicking in.   
  
He took a look back at all the space he cleared, then grinned. "Okay, that's fire right there." Once again, Alphys had proved her trustworthiness.    
  
He leapt off of a few more bounce pads before his phone rang again. As soon as Sergio touched his headset, whoever was calling him hung up. There were few monsters who had his phone number, so it wasn't difficult to pinpoint who it was.  
  
The path led to another metal pipe bridge guarded by laser walls about as tall as him, some with blue lasers, others with orange ones. Sergio frowned at the sight of this. Papyrus could have taken some notes from whoever built these lasers.  
  
His phone rang again. It was Alphys.  
  
"Yo."  
  
"Uhh," the doctor started nervously. "H-hi, so the blue lasers....Uh, I mean, Alphys here, hi! The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move!"  
  
"Oh, so like blue attacks?"  
  
"Y-yeah, exactly! Just like blue attacks! And, uhh, o-orange ones, um...you have to be moving, and they...um, they won't, um....Move through those ones!"  
  
"You sure 'bout that? Well, you been right on everythang else. Good look."  _Click!_ Sergio stepped toward the orange laser wall, expecting to feel the heat or hear the electric hum usually associated with lasers. None were present, so these had to have been magic. He extended his left index finger, moved it to the wall, and briskly chopped his finger through the laser.   
  
He felt nothing.   
  
Sergio did it again. Nothing happened. He tried his left forearm with the same result. Chuckling to himself, he walked through two orange walls unharmed. The next wall was comprised of blue lasers, the wall moving back and forth. Sergio waited until it was moving forward before stepping forth. When the wall came back, he was still, and it passed through him cleanly. Near the end of the pipe bridge, there was a button labeled "Laser Power." He pressed it, and the lasers disappeared behind him.  
  
He turned left. A more elaborate assortment of pressurized platforms was established in front of him. Three platforms surrounded one whose arrow pointed in a different direction every second. If he needed to use it, he would have needed precise timing. However, the gaps were much more feasible than the previous occurrence.   
  
Just before he made his move, his phone rang.   
  
"A-A-A-Alphys here! Th...the northern door will stay locked until you s-solve the puzzles on the right and left! I...I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!"  
  
"Why you soundin' so nervous, doc? It's jest me you talkin' to. You ain't been wrong 'bout nothin' so far."  
  
"I-it's not every d-d-day a human c-c-comes down here!"   
  
Sergio rolled his eyes. "If you learn one thang from me, it's that humans ain't jack compared ta monstas. It ain't like humans can do magic or nothin'. We gotta rely on guns."  
  
"A-a-a-and swords! I know you guys have a thing for unrealistically giant swords that shouldn't be....Uh, w-w-why are you looking like that?"  
  
"Afta I take care a' this B.I., we need ta talk."  _Click!_  
  
Sergio jumped over two gaps and headed to his right. He overheard a conversation between a green monster in a business suit and a sort of brown flame with white glasses, the two talking about how the special effects in Mettaton's show were improved and that the human "almost looked real." It was probably for the best that they didn't know the truth about him.  
  
The puzzle on the right featured boxes he had to move in order to shoot an opposing "ship" on a screen. It was on a three by three grid, so it wasn't long before Sergio completed the puzzle.  
  
When he went for the puzzle on the left, he found a blue laser wall obstructing his path. As soon as he grabbed to call Alphys, she rang him up.   
  
"Alphys! Here! Th-that laser seems totally impassable! B-b-but, as the Royal Scientist, I h-have some tricks up my sleeve! I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!"  
  
"Why couldn't you do that before?"   
  
"T-turning off one laser is easier th-than all of them!"   
  
"Eh, you prolly right."  _Click!_ The lasers were deactivated.   
  
The next puzzle involved a four by four grid, with more blocks to move, yet still only two shots with which to complete it. This puzzle took him a bit longer to figure out. After the puzzle's completion, he went to the northern double doors, which had glowing green orbs near the top. There must have been a sensor somewhere, as it opened as soon as Sergio approached it.   
  
When he walked through, his phone rang.  
  
"Uh, I think, umm....Hey! About the puzzles left and right...! They're a bit difficult to explain, but-"  
  
"Ain't nothin'  _to_  explain, doc. I solved that mess already."  
  
"Uhh, you already solved them? Awesome!" Her voice still had her trademarked nervousness in her congratulation.  _Click!_  
  
Sergio jumped across three pressure platforms before approaching the next room. It was pitch black inside, so he activated his phone's flashlight feature to get a feel for his surroundings. He saw an island counter standing in the middle of the room with a sink, a cutting board, and a bowl on it. On his left, there was a refrigerator and another counter with eggs, milk and sugar.   
  
A kitchen? In the middle of Hotland like this?   
  
Alphys's face appeared in the middle of the screen. He answered the phone.  
  
"H-hey, it's kind of dark in there, isn't it?"  
  
"'Kinda.'"  
  
"Don't worry! I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!"  
  
The lights turned on, exposing the sky blue tile floor beneath him. Other than that, nothing seemed to stand out. Regardless, he heard Alphys say on the other line, "Oh, no."  
  
"What?"  
  
He heard mechanical whirring from his left and upbeat background music, quickly realizing what was so "oh no" about the situation.  
  
"Oh, yes! Welcome, beauties--"  
  
"Oh, naw!" It was Mettaton, wearing a chef's hat as he appeared on the other side of the counter. Sergio instantly ran past the robot and headed for the exit on the other side. He heard a finger snap behind him and saw a large blue laser wall form in front of him, this one featuring vertical lasers rising higher than other walls he'd faced. The same happened in the way Sergio came in.  
  
The robot sighed. "Still trying to run? I thought you would at least TRY to indulge the audience."  
  
"Indulge the audience by dyin' on screen? I ain't havin' that!" He then remembered his headset. "Alphys, you there?"  
  
"Y-y-yeah, I'm here! I'm trying to d-d-deactivate the lasers, but I just can't get past a f-f-firewall Mettaton set up for the lasers!"  _Congratulations. Ya played ya self by makin' somethin' smarta than you._ "B-b-but it's not impossible! I just need a few minutes! Just play along until I figure it out!"   
  
"As I was saying before, welcome, beauties, to the underground's premier cooking show, Cooking With a Killer Robot!" announced Mettaton, shifting his focus from point to point, as if knowing where the hidden cameras were. "Pre-heat your ovens, because we've got a very special recipe for you today! We're going to be making a cake! My lovely assistant here will gather the ingredients."  
  
"And jest where might this 'lovely' assistant be?" asked Sergio with spite. Your local hood rat was a lot of things, but "lovely" couldn't have been more inaccurate.  
  
Mettaton produced a polite laugh. "And he's modest to boot! Everyone give him a big hand!" Prefabricated applause erupted from speakers around the kitchen set, with Mettaton clapping his metallic hands. Confetti fell where Sergio stood, the human moving away from the falling paper and getting it out of his hair.   
  
"We'll need sugar, milk, and eggs," Mettaton continued. "Go for it, sweetheart!"  
  
"And cool it wit the flirtatious dialogue!"   
  
"It's no use, Sergio," said Alphys in his headset, slight regret in her voice. "That's one thing I  _can't_ change about him."  
  
Sergio stared at Mettaton straight in the scanner. "Man, you got me on that 'yes, masta' bull crap now." Regardless, he walked over to the other counter and grabbed the ingredients. He put them down in a somewhat forceful manner, displaying his resentment.   
  
"Perfect! Great job, beautiful!" said Mettaton. Sergio scoffed in disgust. "We've got all of the ingredients we need to bake the cake: milk, sugar, eggs....Oh, my! Wait a magnificent moment! How could I forget? We're missing the most important ingredient!" The robot produced a chainsaw. "A human soul!" Mettaton turned on the chainsaw, the machine whirring with life.   
  
His eyes bucked, Sergio took a step to his left before cutting right, standing behind the counter in Mettaton's perspective. He held his umbrella tightly, one hand near the tip, the other near the handle.  There wasn't much he could do for attacking a robot, but he thought of a few ways to defend himself; a quick hit to the flat side of the chainsaw to block vertical strikes, a quick jump back for horizontal ones--  
  
He heard ringing, although it wasn't from his phone. Mettaton turned off his chainsaw and pressed a button on his side. "Hello? I'm kind of in the middle of something here."   
  
"W-wait a second! Couldn't you make a...couldn't you use a...couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?" said Alphys. It seemed she was communicating with the robot via telephone, her voice coming in through the speakers.  
  
"...A substitution? You mean, use a different, non-human ingredient? Why?"  
  
"Uh...what if someone's...vegan?"  
  
 _Good goin', Alphys. Vegans wouldn'ta ate this cake anyway 'cause a' the milk and eggs!_  
  
"...Vegan," said Mettaton flatly. Even  _he_ caught Alphys slipping!   
  
"Uh, well, I mean--"  
  
"That's a brilliant idea, Alphys!" Mettaton chirped brightly. "Actually, I happen to have an option right here: MTT-Brand Always-Convenient Human-Soul-Flavor-Substitute!"   
  
"Wait a minute, how would anyone know what a human soul taste like ta make a substitution?" Sergio asked.  
  
"A can of which," Mettaton ignored him, "is just over on that counter!" The robot pointed to a counter placed near the laser wall Sergio approached earlier. "Well, darling? Why don't you go get it?" the robot addressed the human.  
  
Sergio couldn't help but smile from the recent development. He couldn't believe that Alphys's proposition had worked! Once again, Alphys had single-handedly saved him from the machinations of the manically mechanical murderous Mettaton. Sure, she may have created the robot in the first place, but she was making all the right moves to ensure Sergio's survival.   
  
He nonchalantly walked over to the counter before it started shaking. The counter vertically extended to about a monument's height as soon as Sergio tried to grab the can. He eyed the counter in disbelief, his head tilted far back.   
  
Mettaton wheeled over to Sergio and said, "By the way, our show runs on a strict schedule. If you can't get the can in the next one minute, we'll just have to go back to the original plan! So, better start climbing, beautiful!" The robot floated upward until he was out of the human's sight.  
  
He tapped a button on his headset to call Alphys again. "Man, how I'm supposed ta climb a counta?!"    
  
"Oh, no! There's not enough time to climb up! F-f-fortunately, I might have a plan! When I was upgrading your phone, I added a few...features." Sergio took his phone out at the sound of that. "Click the icon that says 'Other Apps,' then hit the jetpack option!"  
  
When Sergio followed her instructions, the phone shot out of Sergio's hand and floated overhead. Then it extended into two thruster engines, with shoulder straps added in the front of it. It floated back down to Sergio, who put the straps over his shoulders with a wide grin.  
  
"Haha, good look, Alphys! This on some Double-Oh Agent stuff!"  
  
"You should have enough fuel to get to the top! Now get up there!"  
  
"Aight, so how I work this THAAAAAAANG?!" The jetpack automatically shot up, carrying Sergio upward at a quick velocity. He remembered to grip his umbrella from the time Undyne carried him from her table to her counter.  
  
He heard another engine revving nearby. Mettaton was flying up as well, carrying an open carton of eggs. The robot hurled eggs all over, Sergio having to lean with his jetpack to avoid the projectiles. He was NOT going to smell like raw egg after this! But he couldn't have said the same about Mettaton's floor....  
  
The robot vanished for a time, only to get different ingredients to hit the human with. This time, Mettaton had sugar. Sergio undid the Velcro strap holding the umbrella together and opened it, shielding himself from the clouds of sugar. He kept the umbrella up when Mettaton came back, pouring milk all over the place. Sergio figured that any of these objects would have gotten in his eyes, causing him to lose balance and fly right into the laser wall.  
  
The jetpack slowed down as the top of the counter became visible.   
  
"My, my. It seems you've bested me," admitted Mettaton. "But only because you had the help of the brilliant Dr. Alphys! Oh, I loathe to think what would have happened to you without her!"  
  
"Don't act like you care 'bout my well-bein' now, playboy. You the one started this mess!" Sergio was about to grab the can of substitution when Mettaton cut in again.  
  
"Oh, yes, about the substitution....Haven't you ever seen a cooking show before? I already baked the cake ahead of time, so forget it!"  
  
"What."  
  
"So, toodles!" Mettaton flew off.  
  
Sergio retained a stern look on his face as he slowly glided down to the floor. At least the laser wall was finally down. He got another call on his phone.   
  
"Wow, we...we did it! We...we really did it!" Alphys laughed in triumph. "Great job out there, team!"  
  
"'Team?' You only talkin' ta one person."  
  
Beat. "W-well, anyway, let's keep heading forward!"  _Click!_  
  
Sergio washed his umbrella using a sprayer from the island counter's sink. He shook off some excess water before continuing on, careful to avoid the cracked eggs on the floor.  
  
The exit took Sergio outdoors, where he saw a building surrounded by lava, which periodically clanged every few seconds. Alphys called him again.  
  
"S-see that building in the distance? That's the Core, the source of all power for the underground. It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity by...." Alphys didn't have to see Sergio's face to realize that further explanation would have gone nowhere with him. "Uh, anyway, that's where we're going to go. In the Core is an elevator directly to Asgore's castle, and from there, you can go home."  
  
"Aight. Sure I won't fall into a boilin' lake a' lava?"  
  
"N-n-no one's fallen in!" Alphys said something that sounded suspiciously like the word "recently" before hanging up.  
  
Sergio approached an elevator and hit a button beside it. The doors opened, and he walked in. The controls seemed more complex than what he was used to seeing on the surface. He tapped a button to call the last person who called him.  
  
"I'm seein' a buncha these controls. One a' them say 'Left Floor 1,' anotha say 'Right Floor 2....' Where I'm supposed ta go?"  
  
"Y-y-you'll want to go to 'Right Floor 2.' 'Left Floor 1' leads to the entrance to the lab."  
  
"Got it." Sergio hit the button on the control pad and ascended to the next floor.   
  
As the door opened, Sergio found a bird air-surfing on a hot dog, and a miniature volcano monster with stubby legs, a hot dog sticking up from the top. There must have been a hot dog stand nearby. Sergio could have gotten two guesses as to who was running the stand, but he only needed one.  
  
"Hey, buddy, what's up? Wanna buy a hot dog?" Sans asked him.  
  
"Psh, man, you know I ain't got money."  
  
"Yeah. You gotta save your money for college and spiders."  
  
"Spidas?"  
  
"Yeah. Haven't you heard of that bake sale they're having? They get really feisty if you don't buy anything from them. Just hope that you don't run into Muffet on your way to the Core."  
  
Sergio nodded. "As for what's up, ain't ya been peepin' the TV recently? Mettaton's tryna ice me on air. He tried ta get me killed twice already!"  
  
"Oh, really? I haven't been checking the tube. I must have been taking a nap when all that was going on."  
  
"That don't surprise me."  
  
"Sounds like you're really taking the spotlight here. First you make a mixtape, now you're a TV star....You're gonna become a celebrity if you're not careful."  
  
"Well, it ain't like I  _wanted_ ta be a TV star. I done reached supastar status against my will."  
  
"Suppose that there are worse ways to reach fame. Well, I'm not gonna keep ya from seeing bigger and better sights, Hollywood. Come back when you've got more gold," Sans stated with a wink.   
  
The human smiled. "No promises."  
  
From that area, Sergio escaped what looked like a flaming ice cream cone with feet, wary of catching fire by tussling with it. His phone's notification sound played, and it showed that Napstablook had sent him a friend request on UnderNet.   
  
"Heck yeah," Sergio said, lifting a finger to press "Accept." However, the notification vanished before he could select an option. On the UnderNet app, there was no indication that the ghost sent him a request at all. Did the ghost cancel his request? And if so, what did Sergio do to ward him off?  
  
He finished a rather simplistic button puzzle while riding on a conveyor belt to disable an electric fence. The next puzzle was more difficult, as it involved more pressurized platforms. Every time he bounced, he landed on a switch that changed the platforms' travel direction. There was a conveyor established on the side in case he needed to go back to the beginning. He tried running on the conveyor belt, but it was moving too quickly to be an effective shortcut.   
  
After moving past the puzzle, it was two rights in a sort of U-turn to the next area. Sergio shoved his hands in his pants pockets, relaxing a little before encountering who knew what else.   
  
"Hey! You! Stop!" he heard a vaguely relaxed, yet commanding voice say. Sergio looked behind him. Two guards fully dressed in battle armor appeared behind him. He'd had too many run-ins with the police and Undyne to trust those like them. He sprinted away from them immediately.   
  
"We're trying to help you!" said the other guard as they gave chase. Their heavy armor was much more debilitating on them than it was on Undyne. The human was leaving them in the dust.   
  
"Bull crap!" Sergio remarked as he took his second turn. They could have helped him by staying away from him.   
  
"You don't understand, we've gotten an anonymous tip about a human wearing a jacket around his waist, and...." The first guard seemed to be realizing why Sergio was running. "Dude...." Then it sounded as though the guards had drawn swords before resuming their pursuit.   
  
Sergio ran into a dark area of Hotland, finding the current circumstances slightly beneficial. There weren't many hiding places better than one that was dark. Of course, he couldn't see any better than the monsters could have. Unless the monsters were smart enough to conjure an illumination spell, Sergio's chances of survival were slightly above slim.   
  
He slowed to a cautious walk through the dark area, still trying to gain distance from the guards. His eyes widened when his phone rang in the midst of the darkness. He could hear the heavy footsteps getting closer to him, and he was sure his phone had given away his position. He rejected the call immediately. From where he was standing, he saw the guards on the lighter side of the area's entrance, one slumped over in fatigue, the other tending to him. It was that one Undyne incident all over again, except without a water cooler this time.   
  
"Oh-Two, hang in there!" Sergio heard from one of the guards. He saw blue lasers blocking off the path, ascertaining that the the guards couldn't come in and murk him. After a triumphant laugh, he called Alphys back.  
  
"You came in the clutch! Nice work wit that laser wall!"   
  
"Uh, I didn't, uh, activate any just now...?" Alphys said, confused.  
  
"Huh. So, was it jest a security protocol, or what?"  
  
"Well, let's just start by turning on the lights there...." A second later, the lights shot on, revealing miscellaneous objects on the floor. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Mettaton?" Sergio asked.  
  
"Metttaton."  
  
"Oh, yes!" he'd heard the robot's voice say. He appeared overhead, dressed in a red suit and holding papers as he sat behind a desk. "Good evening, beauties and gentlebeauties! This is Mettaton, reporting live from MTT News! An interesting situation has arisen in eastern Hotland!"  
  
"If we lucky, it's yo' retirement, my boy!" heckled Sergio.  
  
"Fortunately, our correspondent is out there, reporting live!" said Mettaton, ignoring the human's comment. "Brave correspondent, please find something newsworthy to report! Our ten wonderful viewers are waiting for you!"  
  
"You keep actin' like I care 'bout the viewas." But, there was no way to escape from the area, so Sergio did as he was told.   
  
The objects that were around him seemed completely uninteresting, what with a basketball, a glass of water, and a wrapped present being included. There was also a dog there, but he had enough experiences with them back in Snowdin. Then he saw a large stack of papers, with Mettaton's icon in the front. He took a closer look.  
  
"Oh, no! That movie script! How'd that get there? It's a super juicy sneak preview of my latest guaranteed-not-to-bomb film:  _Mettaton the Movie XXVIII_ , starring Mettaton!"  
  
"Like havin'  _one_  movie 'bout you wasn't bad enough!"  
  
"I've heard that like the other films, it consists mostly of a single four-hour shot of rose petals showering on my reclining body."  
  
"Case in point!"  
  
"Ooh, but that's not confirmed! You wouldn't," Mettaton somehow coughed, holding his "head," "spoil my movie for everyone with a promotional story, would you?"  
  
"Sound like  _you_ already did. But since we got the ball rollin'...." Sergio looked straight at Mettaton as he turned to the last page of the script. He glanced at it and said, "Spoiler alert: Sean Bean dies at the end. Wait...."  
  
There was a ticking noise coming from the script. There was nothing Sergio found on the page he was on, so he opened the middle of the script. "OH!" He set the script down immediately and raised his hands; inside the pages was a bomb, with the fuse ignited and everything!   
  
"Oh? What's that inside the script? That ticking sound....That lit fuse....Oh, my! Looks like I was wrong about the movie! We definitely have a box office bomb on our hands, and it's about to blast you to bits!"  
  
Sergio was too stunned to concoct another robotic roast and looked for a quick way out of the potential blast radius. However, more blue lasers were set up so that he couldn't leave the area.   
  
"But don't get too excited! You haven't seen the rest of the room yet!" announced Mettaton. Sergio looked around and saw the wrapped present open, revealing a bomb. A video game box was open near the corner of the rock platform, showing the same thing.  
  
"Oh, my! It seems everything in this area is actually a bomb! That dog's a bomb!" The white dog's tail was lit as the robot said that. "That basketball's a bomb!" The top of the basketball was ignited. "Even my words are...!" Mettaton's last four words formulated above Sergio in what looked like a special effect seen in real life. The words fell to the ground, exploding upon impact. Sergio yelped as he attempted to dodge the explosive words.  
  
Sergio had the idea of throwing all of the bombs over the edge, but he was cautious of picking up a bomb. If he dropped it prematurely, his efforts would have been for naught.   
  
"Brave correspondent, if you don't defuse all of these bombs..." Mettaton flew towards a large, pink bomb set against a metal beam, "this big bomb will blow you to smithereens in two minutes! Then you won't be reporting live any longer! Our nine viewers are going to love watching this!"  
  
So much for that plan. "Well, screw them!" Sergio answered. Mettaton gave a chiding laugh in response.  
  
"Good luck darling!" the robot said as he flew from the scene.   
  
Sergio immediately answered the phone when it rang.   
  
"D-don't worry!" assured Alphys. "I installed a bomb-defusing program on your phone! Use the 'defuse' option when the bomb is in the defuse zone! N-now, go get 'em!"   
  
Sergio took his phone out of his pocket and frantically searched for the bomb defusing application. When he found it, he hightailed it to the bomb closest to him, the dog bomb. When he put his phone near it, a dog icon was floating around a box on his screen, moving in and out of it in a specific pattern. He pressed the Enter option when the icon was inside the box, and the screen read in all caps, "BOMB DEFUSED." Sergio sighed with a small degree of solace; this was much easier than choosing between a red wire and a blue wire.  
  
Though defusing bombs was easy, the clock was still ticking on the huge bomb. Sergio's hands were shaking as he moved from bomb to bomb, his palms accumulating sweat. He stared at his screen with increasing impatience as the patterns got harder to predict.   
  
After defusing the last of the bombs, Sergio produced a laugh that came low from the chest, steadily increasing in frequency and volume as he reveled in his triumph. He was still alive! He was NOT dying in a fiery explosion! He couldn't thank Alphys enough for her efforts and upgrades to his phone! There was still a nagging voice in the back of his mind reminding him that she was the one who had made the robot in the first place, but he elected to ignore it for now.   
  
"Well done, darling!" commended Mettaton as he flew nearby.  
  
"Dang straight, 'well done.' You ain't explodin'  _nothin'_ today!"   
  
"Funny you should say that, darling, because if you didn't deactivate those little bombs, the big bomb would have exploded in two  _minutes_."  
  
"Yeah, and?"  _Hol' up. Why he enunciate the "minutes" part?_  
  
"Now it won't explode in two minutes!" Mettaton's scanners flashed red and yellow in a maniacal laugh. "Instead it'll explode in two seconds! Goodbye, darling!"  
  
His smile absent, Sergio cast a look towards the bomb in hopeless desperation. He capitalized on his disappointment with a string of oaths, disregarding the fact that he was on live television.   
  
Two seconds had definitely passed, but the bomb didn't detonate. Mettaton's laughter had died when Sergio didn't.   
  
"Ah. It seems the bomb isn't going off," Mettaton observed. Someone then called him directly, her voice broadcast to the viewers at home.   
  
"That's b-because while you were monologuing, I...I f...fix...um...I ch-change...."  
  
"Oh, no. You deactivated the bomb with your hacking skills," said Mettaton, his robotic voice devoid of its usual flamboyance.  
  
"Yeah! That's what I did!"   
  
 _Alphys, I could kiss ya right now._  
  
"Curses! It seems I've been foiled again! Curse you, human! Curse you, Dr. Alphys, for helping so much! But I don't curse my eight wonderful viewers for tuning in! Until next time, darling!" Mettaton flew off.   
  
After Mettaton was long gone, Alphys had deactivated the laser walls that had kept Sergio trapped there.   
  
"W-wow, w-we really showed him, huh?" said Alphys.  
  
Sergio spoke as he walked through a series of laser walls, "Ay, I mighta pushed a few buttons, but you was the one who made all these gizmos. It's  _you_  who goes hard in the paint, Alphys. Don't get it twisted." He spoke directly from the heart, which produced an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of his stomach. He noticed he was feeling that more and more as he remained underground.  
  
A few seconds of silence. "H-hey, I know I was kind of weird at first, but I really think I'm getting more, uh, more...m-more confident about guiding you! So don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot. I-I'll protect you from him!"  
  
"Ay, you helped me this much. I'm sure that I'll be in good hands."  
  
"A-and if it really c-came down to it, we could just t-turn...." There was an awkward pause. "Uh, never mind. Later!"  _Click!  
  
Hmm, wonda what she was 'bout ta say. _But she had proven her reliability time and again. There was practically no doubt about her true intentions. As long as Alphys remained within contact, Sergio felt pretty good about his eventual escape from this place.   
  
On his way to an elevator marked "L2," Alphys was calling him once more.  
  
"Um, I've noticed that you're seeming kinda stressed...even more so than usual," Alphys commented.   
  
"Well, how'd you look if you jest diffused a couple bombs?"  
  
"I-I understand that, but....You're getting c-c-closer to the king's palace. Are you w-worried about meeting Asgore?"  
  
"Considerin' 'is track record wit otha humans, I'd say my concern is jestified."  
  
"W-well, you shouldn't worry... _too_ much, okay? Th-the king is a really nice guy...."  
  
"What's that mean? Instead a' gorin' me ta death, he'll snap my neck so I don't feel nothin'?"  
  
"No, n-nothing like that! I'm sure that you can talk to him, and, w-with your human soul, you can pass through the barrier!"  
  
Sergio opened the elevator door. "Forgive me, Alphys, but I jest cain't see dis Asgore lettin' me go scot free, considerin' how he needs one more human soul ta break the barria and all that." He took the elevator to "Left Floor 3." "If dis king is as good as otha people say he is, he ain't lettin' me out without a fight. I'mma  _try_ ta talk to 'im in case he ain't as bad as I think."  _But_ my  _survival come first._  
  
"Y-yeah, that's right! S-so, no worrying, okay? J-just forget about it and smile."  _Click!  
  
Forget about it and smile. _If only it were that easy. Not just confronting Asgore, but everything else. You could trust that Sergio wished he could forget about his past troubles and smile through his trials and tribulations. However, he was accustomed to a place where his past had frequently caught up to him, lingering in the distance for it to strike against him once again. This place wasn't Manhattan. This place wasn't Harlem. This place wasn't even the surface  _or_ the underground.  
  
No, reader, the place was his mind.

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"Alphys has been playing you for a fool the whole time. She decided to insert herself into your story. She enlisted me to torment you."_

_"And why should I believe_ you?  _You did nothin' but made my life hell!"_

_"Hell that Alphys caused for you. Think about it, darling. Who was the one that programmed me? Who knew where every trap was?"_

_"I know whatchu tryna do, and yo' show's gettin' canceled_ today _, playboy!"_

_.     .     ._

_"You seem_ really  _concerned 'bout humanity."_

 _"Of course I am! If_ I  _get your soul, I can stop Asgore's plan! I can save humanity from destruction!"_

 _"I ain't dyin' so that_ you  _can be a hero, Mettaton."_

_.     .     ._

_"I'll make your last living moments...ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!"_

_"Like I said before, come get this work!"_


	9. Reflection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers. Last chapter, I placed the "Next Time" teaser a chapter too early. The teaser for the last chapter is actually for Chapter 10. Sorry for any confusion!

Sergio had almost forgotten that other people knew his number. He was a bit surprised to hear Papyrus's voice through the headset when the elevator reached a new floor.  
  
"Hello, human!"  
  
"Oh, what up, Papyrus?"   
  
"I've been seeing you on the television lately! You  _really_ have a talent for show business!"  
  
"I was afraid you'd say somethin' like that." As Sergio walked down the pathway, he heard a young spider woman (at least, she sounded young) make offers to him about items she was selling. Sergio shook her head and said to her, "I got no cash."  
  
"Is that Sergio? Let me talk to him!" said Undyne over the line.   
  
"It's my phone, I get to talk to him first!" Papyrus argued.  
  
"I'll wrestle you for it!"  
  
"No, wait, Und-GAH!"  _CRASH!_ It sounded as though Papyrus didn't have much of a say in the matter. Sergio winced at the sound coming in through his headset, imagining how hard the skeleton landed.  
  
"'Sup, punk?" Undyne said brusquely.   
  
"Dang, Undyne. Why you do Papyrus like that?"  
  
"'Cause I don't have a phone," she said simply. "So, where are you now?"  
  
"I jest got off the Left Floor 3 elevata. I passed by some spida sellin' who knows what."  
  
Undyne's tone shifted dramatically. "Muffet...."  
  
"I take it you know 'er?"  
  
"She's a local SCAM artist who coerces people to buy her stuff until they run out of money! Whatever you do, don't buy ANYTHING from her!"  
  
"You can rest easy, Undyne. I cain't cop nothin' without cash."  
  
"She will find  _other_ ways to peddle her merchandise," said Papyrus. "Unfortunately, if you're going to the Core, the only way is through her cave. Just try not to get entangled in her web when you get there!"  
  
"Yeah, her web of LIES!" Undyne interjected.   
  
It sounded serious, but Sergio had killed tons of spiders on the surface. Granted, this Muffet character was much bigger than any spider he'd ever seen. However, he was sure that Alphys had more tricks up her sleeve if Muffet became a problem.   
  
The next room held more pressurized platforms, forming a sort of labyrinth throughout the whole room. He felt his phone vibrate after entering.  
  
"Hi, Alphys here! This room is like the room we saw before. There are two puzzles to the left and right. You'll have to solve them both to proceed!"   
  
"'Kay. Anythang else?"  
  
"A-also, I'd like to say! I don't really...like giving away puzzle solutions. But if you need help, just call me, okay? Actually, wait, I have an idea! Let's be friends on UnderNet! Then you can just ping me when you need help!"  
  
"We already are friends there. You signed me up, rememba?"  
  
"Oh...yeah....You've...been reading my posts the whole time...?"  
  
It was a catch-22. He could have either said yes and lied about it, giving her the impression that he  _had_ been reading her posts, whatever they were about, or he could have said no and made her feel as though her posts weren't important enough for him to read. Either way, it would have made her feel bad.  
  
"I actually turned my data off. Save battery and all dat."  
  
"O-oh! Good idea!"  _Haha, smooth move, Serge._  
  
As the human approached the puzzle on the left, he found a small plane hovering next to a small volcano-like monster with stubby legs. The plane was wearing a mob cap, and Sergio could have sworn that it was blushing, with a slight red tint sticking out from its sky blue paint at its nose. The small volcano monster was also blushing, but it seemed to be for a different reason.   
  
Sergio tried to move past the monsters, even politely saying, "'Scuse me" in the process, but the area around him became dark. He realized it had been a long time since he actually had to fight a monster. He grasped his umbrella and stood his ground. He dropped his nice ruse when he said, "What gives?"  
  
"It's not like I LIKE you or anything," the airplane said immediately. Sergio skeptically stared at it.   
  
"I ain't assume you did," he fired back.   
  
The little volcano, however, seemed blissfully unaware of what was happening, Its eyes were closed and it had a constant smile on its face as it shifted around happily.   
  
While he was distracted, the plane swooped toward Sergio, its nose aimed at his heart. He sidestepped away from the attack and kept his focus on the aerial threat.   
  
"Ah, I'll help! Healing magmas!" said the small volcano. It shot bursts of lava at Sergio, which he jumped back to avoid. In case there was any ambiguity as to whether or not the monster's lava  _was_ helpful, the human saw the ground simmering where the lava landed.   
  
"Cool it, plane!" Then Sergio turned to the volcano. "And yo' lava DON'T help me at all!"  
  
The volcano looked hurt, its smile slowly fading. "Ahh...not...helping? Okay...."   
  
The plane came back around, flying a bit higher than during its first attack. It seemed to drop something...they were bombs! Sergio looked at the entrance to the puzzle room. With the volcano standing out of the way and the plane overhead, he dashed into the room and closed the door. He heard a series of small explosions erupting from the other side of the door.   
  
Okay, so there was a mistaken volcano and a crazy animate plane waiting for him outside. It was a good thing none of them had any hands with which to open the door. Now he was just fearful that the plane would bomb the door open and continue its assault.  
  
The puzzle's grid was five by five, and he only had one shot to complete the task. The puzzle took him around five minutes to complete. He was hesitant to open the door, bracing himself for a new barrage of attacks from his favorite insane aircraft. He took a deep breath, then opened the door quickly, pointing his umbrella out like a gun. Strangely, both the volcano and the plane were absent from the scene, replaced by two of Mettaton's fans with quadrilateral shapes for heads. They discussed their favorite moments from the robot's show, mentioning "heel-turning villains" and "dramatic poses." Frankly, any positive press for the robot made Sergio's blood boil, and he left them before somebody got slapped.  
  
The next puzzle was protected by a series of blue laser walls, which were "conveniently" placed over a conveyor belt. Fortunately, the lasers were moving back and forth, so it was possible to pass. However, if the lasers were designed to zap people who were moving, how could he survive going through the wall on a conveyor belt? He gave Alphys a ring.  
  
"How I'm supposed ta get through?" Sergio explained his thoughts to the scientist.  
  
"Oh, um....For that, you can when the lasers come back at you, walk backwards against the belt to cancel your movement. It should pass by you without harming you!"  
  
"So, I need ta move in order ta stop movin'."  
  
"Well, when you put it like that...yeah! It's for this reason that the conveyor speed is about as fast as the average person's gait!"  
  
"Huh. Aight, then."  
  
He stepped onto the belt, balling his fists. As soon as the laser wall came by him, he walked backwards as Alphys said, and the lasers phased through him without harming him. He passed through the other walls with the same result.   
  
Sergio answered another call before entering the second puzzle room.   
  
"Hey! This, um, doesn't have anything to do with guiding you, but....Uh, hey, would you want to watch a human TV show together? Sometime?"  
  
"Which one is it?"  
  
"It's called, um...M...Mew Mew Kissy Cutie...."  
  
The name of the show made him sick to his stomach. If the boys from the hood knew he watched something like that, he  _knew_ he wouldn't have gotten respect after that point. Even without the potential public ridicule once he got back to the surface, it probably would have been time wasted anyway. Then again, Alphys had done so much for him, despite the fact that he was a stranger from a different land. The least he could have done was oblige her for this small favor.  
  
"Yeah, sure."   
  
"R-really? It's so good! It's, um, my favorite show! It's all about this human girl named Mew Mew who has cat ears!" Alphys went on to give an in-depth synopsis of the show, her rapid-fire explanation somewhat entertaining to Sergio. After nearly spoiling the show, Alphys finished, "Uh, I think you'd really like it! We should watch it! After you get through all this!"  
  
The second puzzle was much easier than the first, taking him about a minute to solve. When he got to the other side of the platform room, a set of double doors with green orbs opened up, the ground vibrating under Sergio's feet. He walked through the doors and pushed onward.  
  
Sergio found a cave with a few cobwebs adorning the top of it. He inferred that this was the spider cave that Papyrus and Undyne were talking about. He turned on his phone's flashlight before heading in. The cave _was_ quite dark, his phone barely producing enough light for him to see in front of him. Suddenly, the floor felt sticky. Sergio flicked his phone down to see that he'd stepped in a cobweb on the ground. He retracted his foot immediately.   
  
"Ahuhuhuhuhu, did you hear what they said?" uttered a vaguely familiar voice. Sergio scanned the area around him, to no avail.   
  
"Who's there?" he demanded. His inquiry failed to get an answer. He continued cautiously, watching where he stepped.  
  
"They said a human wearing a black shirt will come through," said the voice again. Sergio tried looking for the disembodied voice, but he was still unsuccessful. The voice laughed, as if amused by the human's plight. "I heard he hates spiders."   
  
He stopped when he found a large cobweb covering the floor. From what he could see, it didn't appear that he could jump over it. The skeleton's counsel resonated within his mind:  _Just try not to get entangled in her web!_  
  
"I heard he loves to stomp on them."   
  
_Dang. I cain't get through without steppin' in the web._ He stroked his chin as he thought of what to do. The web's length didn't seem impossible to beat, but he needed something that could boost his jumping. He could have cleared this distance if he was jumping from an area of higher elevation.   
  
Higher elevation....Aha! He opened the jetpack application on his phone. The jetpack was really low on fuel, but it didn't need to carry him that far to work a miracle. He stepped just out of the cave, phone in hand, the application still running. He got a running start into the cave and activated the jetpack. The phone transformed into the jetpack and latched onto Sergio's back just before he stepped into the web. With his momentum, he launched forward and cleared the web with room to spare.   
  
As soon as he landed, he ran out the other side of the cave, nervously brushing himself off; it felt as though some spiders had crawled on him. Whoever it was in there, he or she was right about one thing: He did, in fact, hate spiders.  
  
On a brick wall to his left there was a poster advertising Mettaton's next stage performance. Further along the path, there was a stone building resembling a castle, what with a stone staircase and a vine extending from the window.  
  
"Oh? That human..." was a sound that brought Sergio despair. Couldn't he go five minutes without dealing with this robot? From the window, the human saw Mettaton poke his "head" out the window. From what he could see, Sergio wagered that he was wearing a dress. For Mettaton's sake, Sergio hoped he was wrong. "Could it be...? My one true love?"   
  
There were a thousand words Sergio wanted to say at once. However, they all culminated into one word and gesture. He stretched an arm out, all fingers pointing at the robot, and said, "Boy."  
  
Elegant music played in the background as Mettaton descended down the stairs, holding the ends of his dress. When he reached the bottom, the robot began a musical number, singing:  
  
_Oh, my love, please run away_ (Blue laser walls were set up so that he couldn't),  
_Monster King forbids your stay,  
Humans must live far apart,  
Even if it breaks my heart _ (Mettaton activated a voice filter to sound as if he was crying while singing),  
_They'll put you in the dungeon_ (Pink petals fell on the two of them, Sergio opening his umbrella),  
_It'll suck, and then you'll die a lot,_  
_Really sad, you're gonna die,_  
_Cry, cry, cry, so sad it's happening._  
  
"So sad," Mettaton spoke, the song finished. "So sad that you are going to the dungeon."  
  
"Betta than hearin' you sing again," said Sergio as he closed his umbrella, shaking off the petals.   
  
"Ooh, so it's a win-win! Well, toodles!" Mettaton snapped his fingers, opening a trap door below Sergio. The human couldn't react before he fell into the darkness.   
  
The fall wasn't long, and he landed in what looked like a normal part of Hotland, compared to the stage he was just in. A conveyor belt was moving in front of him. Beyond the belt, it looked like a tile floor with a diverse array of colors. It reminded him of the puzzle he had seen back in Snowdin....  
  
"Oh, no! Whatever shall I do?" Mettaton continued. "My love has been cast away into the dungeon! A dungeon with a puzzle so dastardly, my paramour will surely perish! Oh, heavens have mercy! The horrible colored tile maze! Each colored tile has its own sadistic function." This was a glimmer of hope for the human; as he had forgotten many of the rules. "For example, a green tile sounds a noise, and then you must fight a monster. Red tiles will....Actually, wait a second. Didn't we see this puzzle about a hundred rooms ago?" Sergio was about to lie before Mettaton went on, "That's right. You remember all the rules, don't you?"  
  
"I don't--"  
  
"Great. Then I won't waste your time repeating them! Oh, and you'd better hurry, because if you don't get through in thirty seconds...." Sergio heard flames ignited behind him. A tall wall of fire appeared there, causing Sergio's eyes to widen. "...You'll be incinerated by these jets of fire!" And cue Mettaton's evil laugh. "My poor love! I'm so filled with grief, I can't stop laughing!"  
  
"I ain't sure that's grief, my dude."  
  
"Good luck, darling!" Mettaton started a new song number. Sergio ignored it as he headed for the tiles.  
  
He remembered that he could step on pink tiles without penalty. He tried to shut out Mettaton's ridiculous song as he strategized his movements. There was another pink tile in front of him, beyond a red tile. When he tried to step to the next pink tile, the red tile before it shot up, forming an impassable column. He took a green tile to the right, looking for a monster to fight, but none came. He stepped forward to the yellow tile, only to find himself teleported back to the green tile.   
  
He guessed he had under twenty seconds to solve the puzzle. He tried going to a green tile left of the first pink tile, then going across an orange, then a purple, then a blue tile. From there, he was stuck. He noticed the jets of flame getting ever closer to him, as if the area wasn't hot enough. Red tiles had blocked the area he wanted to go, and every other tile seemed to teleport him back to the previous tile.   
  
Eventually, the tiles turned to black and white under his feet. He had failed the puzzle. Sergio looked up at the robot, floating up and seemingly humming in his victory.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Looks like you're out of time!" The jets of fire were getting dangerously close now. "Here come the flames, darling!" Closer. "They're closing in!" Closer. "Getting! Closer! Oh, my!" The flames were licking Sergio's sides, the human fanning himself with his collar. However, the human didn't seem worried. "Any minute now!"  
  
"Aaaaand, cue Alphys!" Sergio proclaimed. The jets stopped in their tracks after he said so, and the aforementioned monster gave him a ring.  
  
"Don't worry! I'll save you! I'm hacking into the firewall right now!" Soon after, the jets of fire vanished.   
  
"Oh, no! How could this happen? Foiled again by the brilliant Dr. Alphys!" Mettaton lamented.  
  
"That's right! Come on, Mettaton, give up already! You'll never be able to defeat us, not as long as we work together! Your puzzle's over! Now go home and leave us alone!"  
  
The thing about those last statements was that Alphys had said them on her own. Even better, those were more or less Sergio's sentiments.   
  
"Yeah, what she said!" Sergio concurred.   
  
"Puzzle? Over? Alphys, darling, what are you talking about? Did you forget what the green tiles do? They make a sound, then the human here has to fight a monster. Well, darling, that monster...is me!" Mettaton ripped open his dress as he descended to the tile floor, the area turning dark.   
  
"Come get this work!" Sergio said, flipping his umbrella around. It was strange how he became adept at wielding a device for rain protection.   
  
"This is it, darling! Say goodbye!" Before Mettaton could attack, Alphys called the human. "Is that your phone? You'd better answer it!" Oddly, the robot could sense that Alphys was calling him despite the phone being set to vibrate.  
  
"H-hey! Th-this seems bad, but don't worry! Th-there's one last thing I installed on your phone!" Sergio nodded and pulled out his phone and looked at the one "special" app he hadn't used yet, labeled "yellow mode." He activated it, and the phone morphed into a a Saturday night special-sized pistol. He didn't need further instruction. Sergio held the phone-gun sideways and pulled the trigger several times, yellow beams firing at Mettaton. With each hit, the robot shook with agony.   
  
"Oooh! Oooooh! You've defeated me! How can this be, you were stronger than I thought, et cetera. Whatever." Even Mettaton had lost his sense of drama as he wheeled out of the scene. Sergio doubted that the bullets really harmed the robot, but anything that got Mettaton away from him was all right with the human.  
  
"L-looks like you beat him! Y-you really did a great job out there."  
  
"All thanks ta you, Alphys."  
  
"What? Oh, no, I mean....You were the one doing everything cool! I just wrote silly programs on your phone."  
  
"Ay, we a good team, though. You do the technical stuff, I handle the action, and we put in work."  
  
"...Um, h-hey, this might sound strange, but, c-can I tell you something?"  
  
"You been doin' so the last few chaptas. Lay it on me."  
  
"B-before I met you, I d-didn't really...I didn't really like myself very much. For a long time, I f-felt like a total screw-up. L-like I couldn't do a-anything w-without...w-without ending up letting everyone down. B-but! Guiding you has made me feel a lot better about myself. So...thanks for letting me help you."  
  
"Uh, no problem." Sergio didn't exactly have a choice if he wanted to survive, but he acknowledged the sentiment.  
  
"Uhhh, anyway, we're almost to the Core. It's just past MTT Resort. Come on! Let's finish this!"   
  
Sergio warmly received the new mood of the conversation. "Let's get it."  _Click!  
  
_ In the next room Sergio found the ice cream vendor with the funky hairdo he found back in Snowdin.   
  
"See,  _this_ is where you supposed ta sell ice cream," Sergio pointed out, gesturing to the general area around them.   
  
"Well, just because it's cold doesn't mean that people don't like their ice cream," said the vendor, shrugging. Sergio was about to put forth a rebuttal, but then realized that the vendor was right. Even during winter, Sergio loved having ice cream every once in a while.   
  
Beyond that room, Sergio discovered the entrance to the MTT Resort, bright colors flashing in neon lights. He eyed the skeleton standing beside the double doors.   
  
"Wusgood, Sans?"  
  
"Hey. I heard you were going to the Core. How about grabbing some dinner with me first?"  
  
"As long as you payin'. For the few hours I been here, I ain't seen a single piece a' gold anywhere."  
  
"Eh, that's fine. Thanks for treating me."   
  
Sergio expected Sans to go into the resort area through the doors, but the skeleton walked to the side. Sans turned his head and told him, "Over here. I know a shortcut." Sergio followed him to the alleyway beside the building. Like the time Sans treated him to lunch, the human didn't remember a single thing about the shortcut when he went through it.  
  
The next thing he knew, he was presumably inside the resort, sitting across a table from Sans. The area was dimly lit, and smooth jazz played from an overhead speaker. A quick look around revealed nobody else immediately around the two. Perhaps that meant he wouldn't have to wait long for his dinner.  
  
"Well, here we are. So, your journey's almost over, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm jest as shocked as you are."  
  
"You must really want to go home."   
  
"Yeah, for sure. It's still dangerous where I live, but at least I can predict the thangs that'll kill me up there," Sergio said with a laugh.   
  
"Hey, I know the feeling, buddo. Though...maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you. Down here, you've already got food, drink, friends....Is what you have to do really worth it?"  
  
"'What I have ta do?' Whatchu mean?" With the advice he had gotten from everybody, all Sergio had to do was convince Asgore to let him get back home.   
  
Well, almost everybody.   
  
Sans's eyesockets were closed before he said, "Ah, forget it. I'm rootin' for ya, kid."  
  
A half smile from Sergio. "Thanks, Sans."  
  
There was a pause.   
  
"Hey, let me tell you a story," Sans went on. "So, I'm a sentry in Snowdin Forest, right? I sit out there and watch for humans. It's kind of boring." With the way Sans made puns on a grand scale, Sergio predicted that this was a set up for a joke. "Fortunately, deep in the forest, there's this HUGE locked door, and it's perfect for practicing knock-knock jokes.   
  
"So one day, I'm knocking 'em out, like usual. I knock on the door and say, 'Knock, knock,' and suddenly, from the other side, I hear a woman's voice." Raising his voice in a slight falsetto, he said, "'Who is there?' So, naturally, I respond, 'Dishes.' 'Dishes who?' 'Dishes a very bad joke.'"  
  
The skeleton wasn't wrong. Worse was that Sergio chuckled at it.   
  
"Then she just howls with laughter, like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. So I keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. She's the best audience I've ever had. Then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks and says, 'Knock, knock!' I say, 'Who's there?' 'Old lady!' 'Old lady who?' 'Oh! I did not know you could yodel!'"  
  
Sergio attributed his further laughter to genuine tiredness. What he didn't realize was that he was actually laughing, contrary to the ultra-serious vibe his section of New York had. On the surface, his troubles were always right in front of his face. Underground, he had other issues, but the issues of his New York life vanished one by one.   
  
"I'm thinking, 'Wow,'" Sans proceeded. "Needless to say, this woman was extremely good. We kept telling each other jokes for hours. Eventually, I had to leave; Papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story."  
  
Sergio snickered, the last statement even funnier than the jokes. "You tellin' me the 'great Papyrus' reads bedtime stories?"  
  
"Of course not.  _I_ read 'em to him. Anyway, she told me to come by again, and so I did. Then I did again. And again. It's a thing now, telling bad jokes through the door."  
  
"Sound like you two really hit it off."  
  
"It rules." Sans stopped for a minute, as if gathering his thoughts. "One day, though, I noticed she wasn't laughing very much. I asked her what was up. Then she told me something strange: 'If a human ever comes through this door, could you please, please promise something? Watch over him, protect him, will you not?'"  
  
The funny business was done with now. Sergio slowly realized who the person on the other side of the door was. His expression altered to one of humorlessness.   
  
"Now, I hate making promises. And this woman, I don't even know her name. But, someone who sincerely likes bad jokes has an integrity you can't say 'no' to." Sans noticed Sergio's countenance and said, "You get what I'm saying, don't you? That promise I made to her....You know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything?"  
  
"I take it we wouldn't be shootin' the bull right now."  
  
Sans chortled, his shoulders slightly bouncing with his laughter. The sound became slightly distorted as his eyesockets were sans-eyes. " _Y o u ' d  b e  d e a d  w h e r e  y o u  s t a n d ._ "  
  
Sergio fidgeted in his seat. "Couldja chill out wit the scary skeleton nonsense? You creepin' a brotha out."  
  
The eyes returned to the skeleton's head, his voice reverting back to normal. "Hey, lighten up, bucko! I'm just joking with you."   
  
"Uh-huh...." Sergio let his hand rest on his lap, having reached for his phone-gun when Sans went beast mode.   
  
"Besides, haven't I done a great job protecting you?"   
  
"Y-yeah, you and Alphys been holdin' me down."  _And please don't EVER do that Exacism-type crap again!_  
  
"I mean, look at yourself. You haven't died a single time." Sergio's brows furrowed. "Hey, what's that look supposed to mean? Am I wrong?"  
  
"You ain't, but you actin' like it's possible for me ta die more than once."   
  
Sans closed his eyesockets again, walking to a plant near the right side wall. "Heh. Well, that's all. Take care of yourself, kid, 'cause someone really cares about you." He walked out of the restaurant, likely taking the same shortcut as when he went in with Sergio.  
  
Sergio just sat there, staring at the table. He had a sneaking suspicion that the woman on the other side of the door was the one who had helped him, hurt him, and caught hands from him. He was still feeling guilty about that last part. After seeing how he could have solved conflicts without slapping up monsters, he imagined a thousand different ways he could have gotten out of the ruins without hurting her.   
  
But the other side of the internal conflict had burned within him just as brightly. Who in his or her right mind would protect someone by hurting that person? Sergio felt close to death with his encounter with her. With the look she had on her face in the heat of battle, she appeared ready to kill. Looking back on it, she seemed like nearly every other monster he'd come in contact with: neutral, emotionless, bloodthirsty.   
  
Ironic was that when he first got down here, when he saw his first monsters, he wanted to get back home without any trouble. He didn't  _want_ to fight anyone. He never had any initial desire to kill anybody. But few seemed to care. In a world full of cute little monsters running around, most humans would have assumed that they would have brought forth a peaceful, pacifistic lifestyle to those who  _accidentally_ fell down here. But the hype surrounding soul power and barriers had driven the majority of monsters on the edge...granted they recognized a human when they saw one. In desperate times, Sergio felt forced to revert to his violent ways.   
  
_It's that hood bull crap all ova again._  
  
However, there were yet beacons of hope for the human. After he'd kicked the stuffing out of her, Toriel made Sans promise to keep Sergio safe. That she was so forgiving so quickly really showed her true colors and what she was truly like. Undyne also deserved some props. She had what seemed to be a fierce hatred towards him, but some time with her showed that it wasn't exactly he who ignited her passion, but her sense of duty to her fellow monsters. If he could get past the missed spears she'd thrown at him, as well as the bent pans and the house fire, Undyne wasn't half bad. At the very least, she was the type of person to call for support for anything. Even if her support probably wouldn't have helped, the thought would have counted.   
  
Of course, there were those whom he had met without conflict. Sans was obviously one of them. He almost never posed an immediate threat to the human, and the rare times he did were in a joking manner. Alphys, heaven bless her heart, had gotten him through Mettaton's wack set pieces. And he had done things for pretty much all of his friends: for Toriel, he stayed over at her house for a night; for Papyrus, he made a mixtape and got the taller skeleton some fans, wherever they were; for Alphys, he boosted her self-confidence; for Undyne, he showed that humans weren't all bad; and for Sans, Sergio played low-key matchmaker between him and Toriel.   
  
He hadn't done this much for anybody else since...ever. Now that he'd done so, and gotten used to it to boot, he felt a little better about  _himself_.  _That_ wasn't something he would have learned from the hood, you could trust that! But if he had done more for other monsters, would his survival chances have increased?   
  
No matter. He was alive now, which had always been priority number one. Soon, he'd be out of this place, and the underground would continue to live on below the surface and just remain a memory for him to relish.   
  
_If only there was someone up there who'd believe me._

* * *

 


	10. Chapter 10

After exiting the restaurant, Sergio went into a room that prominently displayed a fountain of Mettaton in the middle of it. Oddly, the water sprayed out to the floor instead of within the fountain. From there, he could see silver elevator doors within a wall, but there was a notice saying that it was malfunctioning. It appeared that the human would have to ascend to the Capital another way. He took the doorway leading to the Core.  
  
Across the long wooden walkway, he eyed two shadowy figures that disappeared just as he saw them. Alphys rang him up.  
  
"H-huh? Who are they?"  
  
"Yo' guess is as good as mine," Sergio said in an undertone, wary of the figures.  
  
"N-nobody else is s-supposed to be here....Oh, well! We can't worry about that now!"  _Click!_  
  
Sergio kept a hand on his phone, the object still in its normal mode. He kept the gun application on deck in case monsters were beefing. He trudged carefully towards the exit until he discerned that the figures weren't present anymore.  
  
"Ready? This is it!" said Alphys.  
  
"Been waitin' on this moment for a long time."  
  
"Take the elevator to the top of the Core!"   
  
As soon as Sergio tried that, the elevator merely produced a dying beep. Apparently this elevator wasn't working either.  
  
"What? The elevator should be working..." said Alphys uncertainly. "W-well then! Go to the right and keep heading forward!"   
  
Sergio followed her instructions and came across an empty room, save for the flames in the darker part of it.   
  
"Wh...where'd this pit come from? You should be able to walk across here....Go back and take the room on the left!"  
  
There, Sergio could see more than in the previous room, but an electric force field blocked his path, with laser weapons beyond it. Alphys explained that hitting the switch near the force field would activate the lasers, as well as provided the order in which the lasers would appear. When he hit the switch, the lasers came at him at high velocity, but in an order different from what Alphys stated. Luckily, Sergio's reflexes had allowed him to adjust on the fly.   
  
When he moved across a glass bridge, Alphys called him again.  
  
"Oh, my god, are you okay?!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm good. What was wit that orda, though? It was the opposite a' what you said."  
  
"I...I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong order....E-everything's fine, okay? L-let's just keep heading forward." It sounded as though Alphys was comforting herself more than she was assuring Sergio.   
  
The next room had more lasers, these ones initially visible, unlike the previous ones.   
  
"M...more lasers....Okay, I...I won't mess around this time. It looks like I can deactivate the lasers and let you through." Sergio heard clicking and keyboard tapping on the other end. "They're...they're not turning off...I can't turn them off, I....I-i-it's okay! I have this under control! I'm going to turn off the p-power for that whole node. Then you can walk across." Sergio activated his phone's flashlight before the lights were shut off. "Okay, go!"  
  
He walked in a steady pace, noticing the series of laser devices sitting side by side to each other. It was certainly fortunate that Alphys had hacked into the system beforehand-  
  
"WAIT! STOP!" Sergio ceased all movement before the lights flickered back on, along with the lasers. He was stuck between two blue lasers, and had Alphys been a second late to the punch, he would have had a date with the Grim Reaper.  
  
"Oh, snap! Good eye, Alphys! But, uh, how I'm supposed ta get outta here?"  
  
"I...I'm gonna turn it off again. When I do, move a little bit and then STOP, okay? You won't get h-h-hurt."  
  
Sergio moved a few feet when the lasers turned off, then stopped in his tracks when the lasers came back. Few feet. Stop. Few feet. Stop. He continued the process until he was through.  
  
"S-see? I've got everything under control."  
  
"Relax, Alphys. Surely it ain't yo' fault. Lasas ain't crap, anyway."  
  
"They are when you face what you just did!" Okay. Comforting attempt failed.  
  
The next room held a four-way crossroads. Judging from what Alphys had said earlier, Sergio thought he needed to go forward, unless puzzles were around.  
  
"Okay! You should...you should...I don't know? This doesn't look like my map at all...."  
  
"Reckon they made some changes since that map was put out?"  
  
"...I'm sorry....I have to go...."   
  
Did he say something wrong, or was she analyzing the new area? Sergio was left to wonder about it as he kept going straight.  
  
The path he had chosen left him wandering until he found a sign that said, "Solve this puzzle, and The End will open." "The End" sounded a bit ominous, but it sounded like the destination he desired. After solving a five by five grid puzzle and moving to a new room, he encountered a flying ghost monster with a helmet and a double-ended spear accompanied by a more intense-looking frog monster than the ones he found at the ruins.  
  
Things were running smoothly enough for your local hood rat, and he didn't need anybody stopping him now, not when he was so close to his goal. He held his umbrella tightly and called out, "Step off!"  
  
The frog leapt toward him, and Sergio swatted the frog away towards the ghost. Surprisingly, the frog had hit the ghost, temporarily incapacitating them both. He immediately kept moving before being confronted by a large knight and a floating magician. There was space in between them, so he headed for it. From the magician, a series of crosses shot out from floating crystal balls near its hat; for the knight, it swung its morningstar horizontally, the weapon aimed for Sergio's head. The human quickly slid under the morningstar and used his umbrella to block a few crosses coming at his chest.  
  
Sergio could see the entrance to the Core twenty feet in front of him. He sensed more magic being cast from the monsters he'd left behind. He somersaulted towards the Core door when the projectiles got close, then immediately headed in.   
  
He ran down a long, dark hallway, still attempting to evade the monsters. With a quick look back, he discovered that the monsters didn't give chase. It was certainly odd that they had lost the will to kill him after he ran from them, but Sergio didn't mind. The corridor directed him to a dimly lit room, with only one obstacle standing in his way. Sergio slowed to a walk as he glared at the robot in front of him.  
  
"Oh, yes. There you are, darling. It's time to have our little showdown. It's time to finally stop the 'malfunctioning robot.' NOT! Malfunction? Reprogramming? Get real. This was all just a big show, an act."  
  
"Is that what all this is ta you? Jest a show where you get admiration from, what, a couple dozen people watchin'?" Sergio moved the umbrella to his left hand as he grabbed his phone.  
  
"I am not the one to blame. Alphys has been playing you for a fool the whole time. As she watched you on the screen, she grew attached to your adventure. She desperately wanted to be a part of it. So, she decided to insert herself into your story. She reactivated puzzles. She disabled elevators. She enlisted me to torment you. All so she could save you from dangers that didn't exist. All so you would think she's the great person that she's not."  
  
The human stopped to ponder this. The chances of that being the case weren't high enough to warrant much suspicion, but were still realistic enough to be considered. She  _did_ say that she liked helping him throughout his adventure, but would she have gone through all that trouble just to undo everything, simply for a fleeting feeling of heroism?   
  
 _Nah, screw all a' that!_ "And why should I believe  _you_? You did nothin' but made my life hell!"  
  
"Hell that Alphys had caused for you. Think about it, darling: Who was the one that created my luscious, robotic body? Who was the one that programmed me? Who was the one that knew where every trap was, just so she could save you from them?"  
  
Sergio shook his head. "I know whatchu tryna do. You tryna turn me against 'er, 'cause you know that when we workin' togetha, we cain't be stopped. Yo' show's gettin' canceled  _today_ , homeboy!"  
  
"I see," said Mettaton, as though impressed by the human's unwavering confidence toward Alphys. "Well, it appears to be the 'infallible duo's' finest hour. At this very moment, Alphys is waiting outside the room. During our 'battle,' she will interrupt. She will pretend to 'deactivate' me, 'saving' you one final time. Finally. She will be the heroine of your adventure. You'll regard her so highly she'll even be able to convince you not to leave."  
  
"Heh-heh, Alphys my homie and all, but I done made it clear ta everyone I met that I'm goin' home, no matta what."  
  
"...Or not. Either way, I've had enough of this predictable charade. I have no desire to harm humans. Far from it, actually. My only desire is to entertain. After all, the audience deserves a good show, don't they?"  
  
"Psh, I don't think ya need ta ask me that."  
  
"You're probably right. But, what's a good show without a plot twist?" Mettaton extended an arm and snapped his fingers, shutting the door behind Sergio. The person on the other side was frantically knocking and furiously jiggling the doorknob.   
  
"H-hey! Wh-wh-what's going on?!" exclaimed Alphys. "Th-th-the door just locked itself!"   
  
"Sorry, folks, the old program's been canceled!" announced Mettaton on the mic as red spotlights shone down on the two of them. "But we've got a finale that will drive you wild!" Sergio felt the floor beneath them raise slightly, then shoot upward rapidly. "Real drama! Real action! Real bloodshed! On our new show  _Attack of the Killer Robot!_ "  
  
Lights were flashing all around the robot and the human as the cameras, wherever they were, started rolling. Sergio pressed the gun application on his phone, the device turning into a small pistol. With a rage, he squeezed the trigger a few times, the yellow bullets bouncing harmlessly off Mettaton's body.   
  
"What?"  
  
Mettaton laughed at the human. "That worthless pea-shooter won't work on me, darling. Don't you understand what acting is?!" Sergio squeezed the handle of the gun in frustration, keeping it pointed at the robot. Mettaton continued, "Listen, darling, I've seen you fight. You're weak. You run away every time you're faced with conflict. If you continue forward, Asgore will take your soul, and with your soul, Asgore will destroy humanity."  
  
The robot summoned square projectiles that flew towards Sergio. The human took his phone-gun and shot some of them out of the air, the projectiles dissolving with impact.   
  
"And you seem  _really_ concerned 'bout humanity," Sergio said, scowling.  
  
"Of course I am! If  _I_ get your soul, I can stop Asgore's plan! I can save humanity from destruction!" Mettaton sent more projectiles at Sergio, the human not moving from his spot as he shot down all magic coming his way. "Then, using your soul, I'll cross through the barrier and become the star I've always dreamed of being! Hundreds, thousands...no, millions of fans will watch me!"  
  
"I ain't dyin' so  _you_ could become a hero, Mettaton. Killin' bustas don't make you a hero in the first place!"  
  
"So what if a few people have to die? That's show business, baby!" Sergio prepared for another volley when his phone rang once more.  
  
"U-uh, I can't see what's going on there, but....Don't give up, okay?! Th...there's o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton....It's, um...it's a work in progress, so don't judge it too hard."  
  
"Just tell me what I need ta do!" Sergio knew how desperate he sounded, but it wasn't of any concern at the moment.  
  
"You know how Mettaton always faces you? That's because there's a switch on his back side. S-s-so if y-y-you c-c-can turn him around...um...and...press th-th-th-the switch...he'll be...um...he'll be...vulnerable. Well, g-g-gotta go!"  _Click!_  
  
So, Sergio needed a way to turn the robot around. With Mettaton's projectiles, it would have been difficult to physically do that. But it didn't take him long to figure out an alternative.  
  
He leaned to his side and brought a hand over his eyes. "Is that a mirror I see?"  
  
"Oh? A mirror? Right, I have to look perfect for our grand finale!" The robot turned 180 degrees and desperately searched for a mirror. Mettaton's back side was conveniently labeled "Switch" with an arrow pointing to such a device. Sergio ran behind the robot and activated it. "Did you. Just flip. My switch?"  
  
"You bet ya mothaboard I did." Sergio twirled the gun in his hand as he moved away from the robot, unaware of what would happen next. Mettaton held his "head" as it trembled, moving from side to side. An escalating beeping sound chirped from the robot, causing a look of concern in Sergio's countenance. Then, spotlights shone down on the floor, bathing Sergio in a blinding white light. He shut his eyes and put his hands where the lights were coming from.   
  
In a suddenly deep voice, Mettaton said, "Oh, yesss," his voice echoing. The lights refocused on whatever was in front of Sergio, smoke supposedly concealing the robot behind it. He saw an outline through the light, one that possessed a more humanlike shape, with four limbs, shoulders, and an actual head. "Oh, my. If you flipped my switch, that can only mean one thing. You're desperate for the premiere of my new body."  
  
"Pause."  
  
"Lucky for you, I've been aching to show this off for a long time. So, as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward". Mettaton appeared through the smoke, his legs spread further than shoulder width apart. The robot now had a face, hair, and clothing, mainly prominently pink boots and shoulder plates. His long, shiny hair covered one of his eyes. "I'll make your last living moments...ABSOLUTELY beautiful!"  
  
Armed with an umbrella in one hand and the gun in the other, Sergio said, "Like I said before, come get this work!"  
  
Mettaton danced around, performing rather impressive splits and high jumps, using his new body to the fullest extent. Sergio cut the dance routine short by firing a series of shots at Mettaton's chest, moving the gun to accommodate for the robot's movement. Some of the shots connected, sounding as though they had done some actual damage, prompting the robot to wink at Sergio and say, "Yeah," as if encouraging the human.  
  
The robot then leapt forward, swinging his legs everywhere with fast and hard kicks. Sergio ducked under two horizontal kicks and sidestepped when Mettaton slammed a foot to the ground. The robot proceeded with a forward kick, from which Sergio rolled away. The human crouched from the roll and fired two more shots at the robot, both shots hitting his chest. Mettaton backflipped away from Sergio, trying to gain a better position. He covered his eye and stood en pointe on one foot, the other leg fully extended.  
  
"Drama! Romance! Bloodshed!" said Mettaton before launching a series of magical bombs at Sergio. One was quickly approaching him head-on, so he shot it before it got close to him. When the bullet hit it, Sergio saw a bright light and was blasted off his feet, landing on his back. He felt moderate aches throughout his whole body, and he just realized that it had been a while since a monster hurt him.   
  
He severely underestimated the blast pattern of the bombs. Instead of exploding in a circular fashion, it detonated in fiery perpendicular streams.   
  
Sergio saw the rest of the bombs fly over him harmlessly. Apparently, the bombs weren't on a timer.  He heard Mettaton's mocking laugh some distance ahead of him. He balled his fists and pushed himself up. He put a hand over the exposed heart on his shirt and glowered at the robot.  
  
"The human is tougher than he looks!" announced Mettaton. Prefabricated applause played from an overhead speaker.  
  
"Won't be able ta say the same fa you," Sergio replied insolently. He aimed the gun at Mettaton again and fired another volley, the robot dodging every shot this time.   
  
"Smile for the camera!" said Mettaton. He deployed smaller versions of his original form, floating towards Sergio with umbrellas in their hands. The Mettaton-ettes weren't threatening in themselves, but they cast heart-shaped magic beams at him. He shifted back and forth as he shot down the miniature robots, too distracted to notice the metallic fist coming for his face.   
  
Sergio felt immense pain in his right eye, being knocked back but retaining his balance. He dodged right and left to avoid Mettaton's next two strikes. The most surprising part wasn't that the robot sucker punched him when he least expected it, but rather how far the robot's arm had reached. There was at least a good ten feet between the two combatants.   
  
 _Oldboy got a reach advantage, huh?_ The human gritted his teeth and mumbled a series of obscenities as he prepared for Mettaton's next attack.  
  
"Oooh! It's time for a pop quiz! This one's an essay question!" A touch screen monitor appeared in front of Sergio as soon as Mettaton said that. Sergio's first reaction was to destroy the screen immediately, but thought better of it immediately. He looked at the screen, which read, "What do you love most about Mettaton?" A full QWERTY keyboard appeared under the question. Sergio extended an arm to type something, then fired a volley of shots at the robot. One shot connected, Mettaton's face betraying slight surprise.   
  
"My, you're a sly one!" coaxed Mettaton, moving around now to throw off Sergio's aim. "Your actions really showed everyone your heart. Why don't I show you mine?" The heart design on Mettaton's chest plate moved on its own and produced a large volley of magical attacks. Sergio squeezed the trigger numerous times as he moved left and right to dodge the projectiles. As he avoided the magic, he sometimes heard low bumping sounds a little bit after firing. With any luck, he was hitting Mettaton's heart and stopping the assault short. When Mettaton's volley ended, Sergio heard a loud explosion sound coming from the robot, Mettaton briefly looking hurt before showing his normal countenance. Aside from Mettaton's slight moment of panic, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  
  
The human pumped his fist. He was wearing the robot down, one bullet hit at a time.  _That'll teach ya ta play wit my life like some TV show!_  
  
"Oooh, I'm just warming up!" Mettaton assured, balancing himself on one foot again. More miniature Mettatons floated towards Sergio, about to throw more hearts at him. Sergio shot most of them out of the sky before they could begin their attacks, and ducked under a few hearts before the rest of the bots floated away. He chanced a few more shots at Mettaton, scoring two hits.   
  
"But how are you on the dance floor?" There was no time to rest as a disco ball descended from the ceiling. It shot blue lasers all over the place, each one passing over Sergio's body harmlessly. He thought it would have been a good chance to shoot Mettaton, but he feared that pulling the trigger would have been considered moving.  
  
The disco ball went away, leaving Sergio guessing what the robot's next move would be. It didn't seem that Mettaton replicated the exact same tactics with every turn. Sergio couldn't get complacent with his combat.   
  
He had the instinct to spray bullets every which way, but he didn't know if the bullets were unlimited with his gun. He wagered that the phone's battery power was what produced the bullets. Regular hits didn't sound as if they did as much damage as hits on Mettaton's heart-shaped core. He decided to save his shooting for those moments.  
  
"Can you keep up the pace?" Mettaton asked disingenuously. The disco ball came back, the blue lasers moving at a faster rate. Sergio remained stationary to avoid further injury. The human only replied with an angry look as he waited for his opportunity to strike.   
  
"Lights! Camera! Bombs!" Mettaton cast a large white wall obstructing the space between him and Sergio, with the only opening being blocked by a bomb. The human fired a shot at the bomb, then sidestepped, avoiding the stream of fire that nearly grazed his side. He then went through the hole in the wall and fired at two more bombs before being in the clear.   
  
More walls and bombs came at him more quickly, the attack ending with the same result.   
  
"We've grown so distant, darling. How about another heart-to-heart?" Sergio would have countered with an insult, but the fight had taken him to a higher level of focus. He sharpened his senses at the word "heart" and tightened his grip on the phone gun.   
  
The heart-shaped core floated around, this time protected by cube-shaped boxes. Sergio dived to his left and fired at the core, taking out the protective boxes one by one. The ones he missed had shot outward, giving him more space to attack the robot's core. His "low-key Jedi" sense told him that the remaining boxes were coming from behind him. He ducked downward in time and shot down the rest of the boxes before attacking the core once more.  _POW!_ A fateful shot had blown off Mettaton's arms, smoke coming from under his shoulders. The development warranted a lopsided grin from Sergio as he watched Mettaton look where his arms used to be. The robot shrugged it off and continued his evasive maneuvers.  
  
"A...arms? Wh...who needs arms with legs like these? I'm still going to win!"   
  
Mettaton cast even more bombs, this time getting a hit on Sergio. A bomb's blast had grazed the human's side, but it wasn't enough to send him down. Nonetheless, Sergio grasped his side before continuing on.  
  
The next volley contained a mix of boxes and bombs. Since they didn't explode if undisturbed, Sergio shot the boxes and traversed through the open spaces. The final set of attacks suddenly slowed, then moved backwards. He didn't have time to react before a bomb hit him from the back, knocking him forward. He extended his arms so as not to chip a tooth, feeling a slight burn in his palms. He let the projectiles clear out before he started to push himself up, his arms trembling.  
  
"The crowd is loving the show you're putting on, darling!" Mettaton encouraged, a sly grin across his face. Sergio took a deep breath, but didn't respond.  _I ain't givin' you the pleasure._  
  
Sergio repelled the next two attacks with meticulousness, dodging every bomb and clearing paths with his gun. He remained aware when the objects started flying backward.  
  
Mettaton knew that he was getting closer to killing Sergio, but his recent moves had fallen flat. He was still putting on a smile for the camera, but Sergio knew he was getting frustrated. The feeling was entirely mutual between them, as were their intentions.   
  
"L...lights....C...camera...." Mettaton sounded fatigued, undoubtedly linked to the loss of his arms. "Enough of this! Do you really want humanity to perish?!" The robot's face turned serious. "Or do you just believe in yourself that much?"  
  
Sergio answered only with a twirl of his phone gun. He defended against a similar attack without flaw, Mettaton's desperation growing as much as Sergio's confidence. Nonetheless, the human retained a tense, concentrated silence.  
  
"You're noticeably quiet, darling. No matter. It's either me or you, but I think we both already know who's going to win. Witness the true power of humanity's star!"  
  
Mettaton's core came from his chest, this time protected by two bombs circling around it. From the core, magical bolts had shot out in all directions. The density of the attack was almost blinding, Sergio firing haphazardly at the core. He heard two bullets hit it before hearing the robot's heavy footsteps approaching him. Mettaton was within melee distance and kicked at Sergio, the human cutting right, then left. Sergio eyed the bombs around the core and fired at both of them when they were a safe distance away.  _BOOM! BOOM!_ Two streams of fire had passed by Sergio's side without hurting him. The core expelled more magic to put some distance between the two fighters. Sergio dived to his right, avoiding the magic and any kicks the robot would have pulled. He abused the trigger when he landed, firing at Mettaton's last known position.  _CHINK! CHINK! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! POW!_ As Mettaton twirled in some ballerina kick attack, a fatal shot had landed on the core. His torso had popped up from his body, his legs blown away in the distance. The robot's body hit the floor with a  _THUNK!_ and unceremoniously fell backward.  
  
Sergio lay there, incredulously staring at the robot, his gun still trained on him. In the moment of relative inactivity, he was once again reminded of the pain that was erupting throughout his body. He winced slightly as he got back up, slowly walking toward Mettaton.  
  
The human expected a look of defeat on Mettaton's face, but the robot couldn't have looked any happier. Sergio's brows were still furrowed as he aimed the gun at the core.   
  
"These ratings....They're the best I've ever had!" said Mettaton with a smile, looking at the ceiling in bliss. "You ought to be proud with a performance like that, darling!" The smile wavered when Sergio shoved the barrel of the gun onto his core.  
  
"I should  _execute_  cha for all dat nonsense you put me through." Sergio's voice was somber and grave. Who could blame him, after dealing with numerous fatal occurrences with the robot? Just a few more shots to the core, and it was curtains for Mettaton.   
  
"Oh, my! The human is serious! But before I leave the underground forever, we should at least address one of the many callers we currently have!" Mettaton's shoulder plate moved, extending a ringing cell phone from inside. "We've reached the viewer call-in milestone! One lucky viewer-"  _POW!_ Sergio destroyed the phone with a well-placed shot.  
  
"These was monstas who been waitin' ta see me die. You got me messed up if you think I'm tryna hear 'em."  
  
Mettaton frowned in protest. "But the audience-"  
  
"SCREW them!" Sergio knelt down and shoved the gun back onto the core. His ardent rage was slowly manifesting itself more and more as time went on.   
  
He put his fingertip to the trigger as Alphys burst through the door. He cocked his head toward the entrance.   
  
"Oh, my god," she said, her eyes flicking from Mettaton to Sergio. The human's face gradually softened when he stared back at her. "Sergio, please p-p-put the g-gun down....You've c-come this far without k-killing anyone....D-don't ruin it n-n-now...."  
  
"Mettaton's a robot, ain't he? Will it make a difference?"  
  
"He  _is_ a robot...with a s-s-soul."  
  
Sergio slowly lowered the gun. "You tellin' me that  _this_ piece a' junk got a monsta's soul in it?"  
  
"Y-y-yes. That's wh-why I didn't want you to d-d-destroy him. I can r-r-replace hardware, but...." She produced an awkward smile, hoping that he would get it.  
  
 _Flowey...._  
  
He pressed a button on the side of the barrel to revert the gun back into a phone.  
  
Alphys walked over to Mettaton's body, Sergio promptly getting up from it. She examined the heart-shaped core in the middle of Mettaton's chest. He could hear her whispering, "This isn't happening, this isn't happening...."  
  
Alphys took a sigh of relief, her shoulders lowering. "Thank GOD, it's just the batteries!" she said.   
  
Sergio scoffed. "Yeah, good ta see  _he's_ still okay." The sentiment had visibly chilled Alphys, as she gulped before answering.   
  
"Uh, I mean, I'm glad that  _you're_ okay, too, and-"  
  
Sergio waved a hand to cut her off. "Save it, Alphys." He took a deep breath. "Well, guess this is goodbye and all dat. Cain't exactly say I enjoyed... _that_ ," he pointed to Mettaton's body. "But, thank ya for everythang else." She looked troubled by something, which caused puzzlement in Sergio. "Uh, you aight, Alphys?"  
  
She snapped out of it. "Y-yeah, I am. I'm gonna...look over M-M-Mettaton for a bit. You go on ahead."   
  
He nodded and left in the other door. He walked with less energy than he usually did, every step causing his whole body to ache. He wondered how he could have solved this problem; once again, the attacks Mettaton through at him, other than the kicks, were entirely magic-based. They didn't affect his body, but his soul. What could have healed it, chicken soup?   
  
 _I can tough it,_ thought Sergio.  _I been through bigga pain than this...._  
  
He heard feet tapping behind him and turned around. Alphys seemed to be following him throughout the Core hallway.   
  
"Come ta see me off?"   
  
"Huh? Y-yeah! S-so, you're off to meet Asgore, h-huh?"  
  
"That's the way it seems."  
  
"You m-must be pr-pretty excited about that, huh?"  
  
"If he my ticket outta here, then yeah." Sergio noticed a more apparent anxiety in her voice, even differing from the one that was usually there. Maybe it was because this was the last time she'd see him.  _I ain't all_ that _, am I?  
  
_ "You'll finally....You'll f-finally get to go h-home!" Alphys continued.   
  
Sergio nodded. The elevator to the Capital was on his left. He reached for the number pad when Alphys called him again.  
  
"W-wait!" He turned his head to her. "I...I mean, um....I was just going to, um...say goodbye, and...." Alphys broke out in a nervous sweat, her hands fidgeting. Her eyes shifted from left to right, as if thinking of something to say. She exhaled, turning her body perpendicular to Sergio's. "I can't take this anymore." The smile she had was lost before she turned her back completely to the human. "I...I lied to you. A human soul isn't strong enough to cross the barrier alone. It takes at least a human soul and a monster soul."  
  
Sergio's countenance fell. "You...you jokin', right?"  
  
Alphys shook her head before turning back to Sergio. "If you want to go home, you'll have to take his soul....You'll have to kill Asgore."  
  
His jaw dropped. "Nah...."   
  
She turned around again, beginning to walk away. Before she could escape, Sergio grabbed her on the shoulder and turned her around, his face grim. "Why you ain't tell me before?!"  
  
Tears welled up in her eyes. "I...I'm sorry..." was all she could muster before she escaped Sergio's grasp, running back down the hall. Sergio was left extending an arm out in a futile attempt to get her back, but he stayed put. It was pointless trying to get any information out of her at that point. He must have antagonized her with how he demanded an answer.   
  
However, why was she lying to him about the nature of the barrier the whole time? She'd been honest with everything else, from the traps, to the puzzles, to Mettaton's crazy games. But for arguably the most important detail about the underground, she'd been keeping it under wraps!   
  
How honest  _was_ Mettaton before their fight? Did she orchestrate everything that had happened to him from Hotland on, just to feel like a hero? Did she need to feel like a hero because she knew she was being short with him? She  _really_ would have been a hero if she'd been completely honest with him about the underground escape process!   
  
He looked at his options. He could have killed the king of the underground and gotten out, leaving the other monsters trapped here forever. Sure, staying down here was depressing, whether one was a human or a monster, but once he was out, it wouldn't have been his problem. Furthermore, would that have betrayed the trust that his other friends had put into him? He recalled that Undyne threatened to beat him up if he ever hurt Asgore, and every fiber of his being believed that she would. If killing Asgore was the only way, Sergio needed to destroy the other human souls to ensure his safety.   
  
Wait a minute. If Undyne could pass the barrier with the human souls, why couldn't Asgore? He already had six of them! Then again, maybe only  _he_ could have passed through the barrier with the souls, but not the rest of the underground. He remembered something Undyne herself had said:  _"_ _With the power of seven human souls, our king, King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier."_ He didn't exactly like the sound of the "become a god" part, especially if Asgore had beef with humans.   
  
If Sergio  _was_ bent on killing Asgore, with what would he do it? An umbrella? Please, not with Asgore's magic. The phone-gun? It would have been more feasible if the phone's gadget reserve power levels weren't low. If he were to use it, he'd need to make every remaining shot count. He didn't forget about the pistol in his waistband, but it had even shorter reach than the umbrella. Why did he have to waste that bullet back in Harlem...?  
  
What were the other options? He could have stayed here for the rest of his days. The problem was, with the rate things had been going as of late, his days seemed numbered. As long as he stayed down here, he ran the risk of catching one too many magic bolts and biting the dust. Granted, most monsters weren't like that, but having even one of them out to get him was too many.   
  
He knew one thing; he was in no condition to fight anyone. The aches weren't getting any better throughout his body. He may not have had chicken soup, but he  _did_ have...Toriel's pie! It had been sitting in his backpack this whole time! Sergio crossed his fingers as he pulled it out of his bag, hopeful that it would have had  _some_ effect.   
  
He got the plastic bag out and found a thoroughly flattened piece of pie, with the filling spread across the interior of the bag.  _Oh, yeah. I been rollin' a lot down here._ But flat didn't mean inedible. He took a bite of the filling, feeling that familiar tingle he felt that morning. Slowly, his pain was alleviated, and it decreased even further the more he ate.   
  
He ate half the pie to restore himself to full fighting condition, then stuffed the pie back in his bag. He then called the elevator, which opened up almost instantly.   
  
"You confusin', Toriel, but ya sure can cook," he said before directing the elevator to the Capital. 

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"You will be judged for your every action. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. Most people I see down here, they don't have anything that makes 'em stick out. But you....You're a bit of an exception."_

_"Whaddya mean?"_

_"I'm sensing something similar, yet different about you. The energy I'm getting from you is not quite the same."_

_.     .     ._

_"You...you have to be him! You look just like the first human who fell here!"_

_"So the first sucka who fell down here was a black kid. What a surprise."_

_.     .     ._

_"Just, think of it like...a trip to the dentist."_

_"I wouldn't trust no dentist that dirtnapped six kids."_

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

It was a long elevator ride up to the Capital, which had given him enough time to have another monologue.  _  
  
Murk 'im, stay here, murk 'im, stay here...._ Sergio weighed the options in his mind, both choices volleying for confirmation. He'd escaped his mother's wrath and the ire of street gangs by falling down here, but he still didn't escape making difficult moral and survival choices as he did on the surface.   
  
One easy choice to rule out was dying. Dying didn't do  _him_ any good, obviously, but even then, this civilization (if one could call it that) wasn't worth dying for. Too many of them either had an active or passive bloodlust, whether by hunting him down and fighting him or by watching Mettaton those last few hours. These monsters also had a king who straight iced six kids down here (although, to be fair, Sergio didn't know what the kids were doing before they died). Plus, he didn't have any obligation to help these monsters just because he  _happened_ to fall there. Too many monsters seemed entitled to his soul. He didn't know them, and they didn't know him. Most of the time, he wanted to keep it that way.   
  
Now that he thought about it, why  _did_ he want to get out of here? He considered what Sans said in the restaurant:   
  
 _"Maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you. Down here, you've already got food, drink, friends....Is what you have to do really worth it?"_ Sans low-key knew that Sergio had to kill Asgore in order to escape. The skeleton had a fair point. If he  _did_ want to stay here, he'd be taken care of by people who actually cared about his well-being, something that he hadn't experienced in eight years. Sure, there were some monsters that posed threats to him, but that was no different from living in Harlem. After all, it was the reason he had the piece in his waistband in the first place.   
  
But while humans predictably telegraphed what they did, from balling up their fists to reaching for their sides, monsters were in a completely different boat. No two monsters had the same attacks, so any new monster who came up to him would keep him on his toes. It was unpredictability that nearly appointed him with the Grim Reaper not too long ago. If Mettaton wasn't the worst the underground had to offer, Sergio shuddered to think what would have been next.  
  
Not only that, but Flowey's words had resonated within his mind as well:  _"What will you do when you meet a relentless killer?"_ Sergio assumed that the murderous plant meant Asgore. The king certainly fit the description. Although Sergio hated to admit it, Flowey was quite shrewd in his observation. Even  _he_ knew that Sergio needed to kill Asgore in order to get out.  _Everybody_ seemed to know that, except him!  
  
But killing Asgore had to have been part of Flowey's plan. Sergio's eyes widened in realization. He recalled Flowey saying that he was the prince of this world's future. Prince. Asgore was a king. If Sergio killed Asgore, Flowey would have taken control being a self-proclaimed prince of the world. After seeing what the flower could do without having so much political power, Sergio thought it best to avoid such an uprising.  
  
So, if he needed to kill Asgore, he needed to destroy the other human souls AND destroy Flowey. The blood-covered route appeared to add more necessary tasks as time went on. The more he thought about it, the more he doubted that this course of action was worth it. Then again, he didn't survive all that he had just to back down from his mission now.   
  
So many decisions to make, and such little time. He wouldn't have been surprised if he grew a few grey hairs just by thinking about this.  
  
 _I'mma jest see how bad dis Asgore really is. If he beefin', I won't hold off the squeezin'. If not...well, it'll make my decision harda._  
  
The elevator door opened, revealing a dull, quiet, grey landscape that contrasted with the colorful, noisy area of the Core. The path branched out to ones leading to the main city to his left. Experience told him to keep going straight on the path, so he took that route. Here, it appeared to be nighttime, disregarding the ever-present darkness in the underground. As opposed to Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland, where many people were out and about doing who cared what, the Capital seemed completely vacant. Maybe around here, everybody was supposed to be asleep at the time. He checked his phone. It was 3:15 P.M. At first, it seemed odd to think the majority of beings were sleeping at this time, but it wasn't as though the underground dwellers could rely on the sun's cycles.  
  
As he walked through the city, he realized that the area looked quite normal compared to regular cities on the surface. The architectural style of the buildings looked a bit old, but Sergio couldn't have told you what era they most resembled. He turned left onto a somewhat prominently displayed path that eventually led to...a house. Taking a quick look around, Sergio couldn't find a castle anywhere. Asgore was a king, wasn't he? Castles made a bit more sense to him. Nonetheless, he got the feeling that this house in the middle of the Capital was where he needed to go. There was ample space between the house and the surrounding buildings. Upon closer inspection, Sergio realized that it looked just like Toriel's house back in the ruins, from the size, to the structure, to the brick material. He remembered that the king  _did_ first make his residence there in the underground, and then moved here.  
  
The front door was wide open, as if inviting anybody to come in. If this was the king's residence, why weren't there guards set up around the place? The White House had a Secret Service guard posted in nearly every exterior corner on the rooftop! Undyne also said that the Royal Guard was meant to keep the king safe as well as take the fight to humans. But the only guards he saw were the crazy fish and the ones he narrowly escaped from in Hotland.   
  
 _Makes my life easia._  
  
He knocked on the open door with a short hip hop cadence before entering the house. Nobody had answered. He got the sneaking suspicion that the house was actually abandoned, and he needed to look further for Asgore's actual castle. He saw the familiar winding staircase in the center of the room. The way to the staircase was blocked with two padlocks connected by a chain extending from the stair rail to the wall. On the chain was a note that read, "Howdy! I'm in the garden. If you have anything you need to get off your chest, please don't hesitate to come. The keys are in the kitchen and the hallway." If anybody could have come in and talked with him, what was the point of having the padlocks? It made less sense considering that Sergio could have jumped over the railing and continued on.   
  
Nonetheless, he did a little poking around the house. He first went to the kitchen, looking for any food items he could have scrounged up to help him in his potential battle. He found a lonely piece of butterscotch pie in the refrigerator, putting it in with the squished pie in his backpack. In the hallway rooms, he found a heart-shaped locket and a dagger that DEFINITELY looked used. Sergio tried not to think about the possibly history of the weapon and stashed it into his backpack. There was hardly anything more damning to one's character than walking up to someone holding a deadly weapon.   
  
Throughout the whole house, Sergio found golden flowers in vases. This recurring motif in Asgore's supposed residence made him think that Flowey was somehow involved with the king. Sure, the flower had plans to take over the underground, but how connected was the flower to the monarch? Was the flower created by Alphys as an additional line of defense against humans?   
  
He hopped over the railing and continued his walk through the Capital. The stairway led to another part of the main city, with more buildings surrounding him. Again, no monsters were out and about at this time. Sergio figured that that was better than any alternative.   
  
The end of the path led to another elevator, which fortunately appeared to be functional. However, the path branched out to a corridor on his right. Perhaps there were more things he could collect in it. He turned to the corridor.  
  
On both sides of the corridor were tall columns that supported the ceiling. The left wall held large windows that let in large amounts of light, despite the fact that there was no sun here. Sergio didn't even try to figure that out as he progressed. The windows had the same symbol he saw on Toriel's robe and on the door between the ruins and Snowdin. His footsteps echoed in the long hallway, the sound bouncing off the marble floor.   
  
He could barely make out a shadowy figure further along the corridor, but the height and shape of it had confirmed who it was. Sergio stepped from a column's shadow and into the windowlight and said, "Sans?"  
  
"So, you finally made it." The voice was the final confirmation. "The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the king. Together, you will determine the fate of this world. That's then. Now, you will be judged."  
  
Sergio gave a bit of a nervous laugh. "First, a entrepreneur, now a low-key priest? Seem like you do it all, bruh."  
  
Sans seemed to have ignored him and said, "You will be judged for your every action. You will be judged for every EXP that you earn. What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points,' a way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others." Sergio blinked as he remembered his own words to Mettaton:  _"I should_ execute  _cha for all dat nonsense you put me through."_  And that exchange was broadcast throughout the whole underground. It would have been surprising if Sans  _didn't_ know about it by now. "When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When your EXP increases, your LOVE increases."  
  
"Wait, LOVE? How does...?" Sans waved a hand, urging Sergio to stop talking.  
  
"LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for Level Of ViolencE, a way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself."  
  
Sergio took a sigh of relief. None of the weapons he had on his person had monsters' bodies on it. Whatever judgement Sans could throw at him wouldn't have been bad.  
  
"The more you distance yourself, the less YOU will hurt, and the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others." Sans emerged from the shadows, showing his smiling self. "Some monsters can see how much LOVE and EXP others have. The two can apply to monsters  _and_ humans. Most people I see down here, they don't have anything that makes 'em stick out." Sans closed his eyes. "But you....You're a bit of an exception."  
  
The human furrowed his brows. "Whaddya mean?"  
  
"Well, it's no secret that I've been keeping an eyesocket out for ya ever since you came into Snowdin," Sans said with a wink. "Partly to keep you safe, but also to see how you reacted to different situations. From what I've seen, you can be quite clever, but you're no pacifist." He sighed. "However, as stressful as things got, you never brought yourself to kill anyone. In turn, you have gained no LOVE or EXP."  
  
"'I gained no LOVE.' Well, you ain't wrong," Sergio said, scoffing.  
  
"I mean, you gained no LOVE, but you also gained love. Does that make sense?" Sans put different inflections on the different means of "love" to emphasize his point.   
  
"I...guess so?"   
  
"I hope it does. However, this is what makes it so confusing for me: You haven't gained any LOVE or EXP from what I could see, but I'm sensing something similar, yet different within you. See, what I can sense is if you had killed any monsters down here. Execution Points are detected by magical energy transferred from a dead monster to the killer. But the energy I'm getting from you isn't quite the same. Is  _that_ making sense, also?"  
  
Sergio was speechless. Even Sans had an inkling that Sergio may have led a worse life than the human let on. The memories flooded back into his mind, memories of the events that had brought him to the underground in the first place.

**.     .     .**

 

_"Come on, D, ice 'im and let's get outta here!"_  
  
 _The one called "D" aimed a gun at a rival gang member's head, the orange-clad youngster's eyes filled with tears. He was about to pull the trigger, then hesitated._  
  
 _"Nah, I'mma let Serge do it."_  
  
 _"What?" Sergio said in disbelief. D shoved the gun flat on Sergio's chest, making the smaller gangster stagger._  
  
 _"You gotta prove ya self, Serge. Consida dis ya initiation. You murk dis sucka, you officially part a' the group."_  
  
 _Sergio looked at the rival gangster, who was not much younger than he was. The kid had rolled with the enemy gang who encroached on the Sixth Street Clique's territory in an impromptu attack. Sergio's gang emerged victorious in the encounter, with most of the other gang lying in pools of their own blood. One shot, and the South Side Vipas were history. One shot, and the Sixth Street Clique could expand their territory._  
  
 _One shot, and Sergio would pledge his allegiance to these thugs._  
  
 _He had stopped to consider what that meant. He would spend the rest of his days being loyal to those who probably didn't care about him. He had joined this gang because he wanted the protection, safety, and validation absent from his life since his father's death. At one point, he thought he got all of those qualities. But how could one feel safe in a group that actively sought conflict with others every day?_  
  
 _He was definitely an asset to the Sixth Street Clique, though. He was the only one with any sort of weapons training (thanks, Manny), which made him a better pistol marksman than the rest of them. As a result, he had gunned down six thugs who were shooting at him, with one shot per thug. From that, he felt nothing._  
  
 _This was different. Sergio had kept an eye on the urban battlefield and knew that this kid posed no threat to Sergio's "friends," other than warning the other Vipas of their position. Judging by his age and his demeanor, he was probably brought to the fray as part of an initiation, just like Sergio. He saw all of his partners in crime killed, the cement painted red._  
  
 _The kid was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time._  
  
 _Sergio held no animosity towards the kid because of his increased perception of the situation. He didn't really feel like executing the poor guy in cold blood. He could have scored a moral victory by refusing to kill the other gangster. But the moral victory wouldn't have meant anything given his recently-acquired bodycount, and the fact that he probably would have died along with the other gangster._  
  
 _In the midst of his thought process, he heard sirens quickly closing in. Whether they were police cars or ambulances, it didn't matter. If he was going to make a decision, he needed to do it now._  
  
 _D pushed him to bring him back to earth. "Come on, man! One ta the wig and we get outta here!"_  
  
 _Sergio's breathing got heavier as he brought the gun up to the rival gangster's face, which showed a countenance of a silent plea for his life. He steadied his trembling hand to keep up the appearance of apathy._  
  
 _BLAM! The shot rang out throughout the alleyway. The rival gangster's brown eyes eventually saw nothing as blood trickled from his cranium. The gun's slide was stuck in its rear position, indicating that the last bullet had just been expended. Sergio moved the slide forward and stuffed the gun in his waistband._  
  
 _The sirens were getting much louder now. He could hear the tires screeching in the distance. Sergio scanned the streets for any police cars approaching._  
  
 _"Yeah, Serge got the juice now! Now let's get outta here 'fore them pigs show up!" D announced. The other gangsters nodded and headed for their safehouse. Sergio stayed for a bit, eyeing the seventh body he collected. He just murdered this poor boy in cold blood. It was clear the kid didn't want to pursue a life of crime. If not that, what would he have become?_  
  
Nah, forget about that. I ain't dyin' jest so he could be somebody,  _Sergio thought with spite.  
  
Images flashed in Sergio's mind as the next events happened quickly. He was running through the alleyway with his new comrades. Police cars had surrounded the neighborhood. Officers got out of their cars with weapons drawn. More gunshots rang out. D along with other gangsters took shots, blood staining their purple and black clothes. Yet others decided to avenge their fallen friends, practicing boyish bravado and firing back at the cops, the bullets hardly piercing their Kevlar vests.  
  
Sergio was _not  _going out like them. But to whom would he run? His mother proved that she was no longer there for him, as she started drinking during the day again. Her most recent attack had prompted Sergio to join the gang in the first place. The other gangsters would be incarcerated if they weren't shot dead. And his father was long gone._  
  
 _So, he went to the one place the cops wouldn't think to look for a gangster. He went to the abandoned forest on the east side of town. The area was dedicated to an unknown child who had fallen down a ravine and presumably died. As a result, rumors spread about how the forest was haunted. Few people dared venture into the forest, and if they did, they didn't venture far._  
  
 _It was so dark in the forest, but Sergio couldn't risk turning on a light, lest he be detected. He slowed to a panicked jog, feeling his way throughout the forest. The plan was to escape to the other side of the forest and see what he could do on the other side of town._  
  
 _But a tree root had other plans for him._  
  


**.     .     .**

  
"Have any ideas why things are as they are?" Sans asked.   
  
Sergio showed no emotion that betrayed his guilt. He said, "I dunno, man. You know more 'bout magic than I do. If you don't know, how would I?" A logical point, he thought."  
  
Sans nodded, although clearly not satisfied with Sergio's answer. "What I  _do_ know is, you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. Your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world. If you refuse to fight, Asgore will take your soul and destroy humanity. But, if you kill Asgore and go home, monsters will remain trapped underground. What will you do?"  
  
Sergio responded with silence. Sans didn't do anything to help his decision. Rather, the skeleton reminded him of how difficult the decision was to make.    
  
Sans closed his eyes. "Well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now. But you didn't get this far by giving up, did ya? That's right. You have something called 'determination.' So, as long as you hold on, as long as you do what's in your heart, I believe you can do the right thing."  
  
The sentiment would have been more meaningful if Sergio still knew what the right thing was. Both decisions had terrible consequences for one group of people. Save the humans that allegedly put the monsters here in the first place, or save the monsters that will launch a genocide against humans?   
  
Well, if Sergio wanted to think of it that way, fewer people would die with one decision. If he was concerned about the right thing, he would have taken that factor into major consideration.  
  
"All right. We're all counting on you, kid." Sans winked again. "Good luck." Before Sergio's very eyes, Sans disappeared, leaving the human with his own devices once more.   
  
He took a deep breath and continued down the corridor. It turned out to be the path he needed to take anyway, as the corridor eventually led to a doorway labeled "Throne Room." This had to be it.   
  
The throne room was actually a garden, with a bed of golden flowers in the midst of green and purple vegetation. In the flowerbed Sergio saw a tall, burly figure wearing a purple cape and golden shoulder plates. The creature had long golden hair and two horns. He was standing behind the creature. If Sergio wanted to, he could have used the phone-gun to Abraham Lincoln the creature and make his life easier. However, he was more cautious than that. He didn't want to pose a threat to the king without saying two words to him.  
  
The area was lit with...natural sunlight, surprisingly. There were a few holes in the underground canopy to allow actual light to shine down. Consequently, the room was filled with sounds of birds chirping, accompanying the happy humming coming from the king as he tended his garden.   
  
"Asgore." Sergio's voice broke the serenity of the garden, the birds from the surface now quiet.  
  
"Oh, someone's here? Just a moment, please. I have almost finished watering these flowers." The king hummed to himself again as he ended his chore. "Here we are!" He turned around to face the human, who analyzed his facial expression. For a split second, the king looked friendly, fatherly. He had black eyes that held kindness, regret, and old age. It was strange, then, to see the rest of his body. He still seemed spry and strong, healthy enough to take Sergio down with one fell swoop. His cape was closed with a Golden Snitch-like emblem on his chest. He was a goat-like monster, like... _Toriel._  
  
When Asgore got a good look at Sergio, his expression changed from one of joviality to one of shock, his mouth hanging agape. He dropped his watering can as his eyes widened.   
  
"What? Tobias? You're...still here?" Asgore asked, almost trembling where he stood. His voice was desperate as he called to someone who may not have been there.  
  
Sergio frowned. "Who's Tobias?"  
  
Asgore said nothing, sizing Sergio up as if to confirm his suspicions. "You...you have to be him! You look just like the first human who fell here!"   
  
"So, the first sucka who done fell here was a black kid. Ain't much of a surprise," Sergio remarked as he crossed his arms.  
  
The king's expression darkened. "No...I can tell by your speech patterns that you are not him....But it's uncanny how closely you resemble him."  
  
"What's it matta if I look like dis Tobias dude? That don't change nothin'."  
  
Asgore sighed. "You're right." He folded his hands and walked to one side of the garden. "Nice day today, huh?"  
  
Sergio brought his umbrella in front of him, planting the tip in the ground. He was wary of any deceptive tactics the king would try in order to bring him down.   
  
"Birds are singing," Asgore continued, "flowers are blooming, perfect weather for a game of catch."  
  
 _Yeah, a game of catch these hands._ What was Asgore trying to do? He was trying to lull him into a false sense of security had already been tried on him, and it failed. Sergio wasn't going to let his guard down now, not when he was so close to his destination.  
  
Asgore shot him a sad look. "I can tell there's no distracting you. You know what we must do. When you are ready, come into the next room." The king walked past the throne and entered a room behind it. Sergio followed suit, keeping a firm grip on the umbrella. He reached for the knife in his backpack and stuck it in his cargo pocket.  
  
The king retained his sad expression as he looked at Sergio, who held a stern countenance as he closely examined Asgore. "How tense," Asgore commented. "Just think of it like...a trip to the dentist."  
  
"I don't go to the dentist, but if I did, I wouldn't trust no dentist that dirtnapped six kids."   
  
Asgore's shoulders slumped. Sergio could tell that he wanted so desperately to defend himself against these accusations, but the king knew that would have been futile. He certainly looked regretful for his decisions. Of course, the king was a politician. It was his job to lie in order to make people feel better.  
  
He led Sergio to the end of the next hall, then stopped again.   
  
"Are you ready? If you are not, I understand. I am not ready, either." Asgore spoke slowly, thoughtfully. Sergio walked into the next room without answering.  
  
The human saw what appeared to be a narrow endless hallway, with light moving across it and then returning to the room's entrance. Sergio reached for one of the walls and was almost surprised to find it solid.   
  
"This is the barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped underground," said Asgore, approaching Sergio from behind. The human snapped his focus to him as the king went on. "...If...if by chance you have any unfinished business-"  _This is undaground rap, got the game down pat...._ Sergio's phone rang just as the king said that. He pointed to his headset, silently asking if he could answer the call. Asgore nodded.  
  
"Yeah?" said Sergio.  
  
"Hey...! Uh, this is Undyne...." It was different to hear her sound nervous about something. Apparently, a certain skeleton thought it was funny. "Shut up, Papyrus, this was YOUR idea!" She reverted to her impassioned nature. "HUMAN! You have to deliver something for me! Uh, please?"  
  
"I gotchu. Where I need ta go?"   
  
"I'm at Snowdin in front of Papyrus's."  
  
"You expect me ta walk all the way over there? You know I was in Hotland a minute ago!"  
  
"You don't have to walk all the way back. There's a river person who can take you directly here. You should be able to ring them with a bell beside the river."  
  
"Gotcha. Aight, be there in a few."  _Click!_ Sergio turned to Asgore. "Yeah, if it's all the same ta you...."  
  
"I understand. Take your time." It sounded as if Sergio running this errand would have been beneficial to both him and Asgore.  
  
The human left the barrier room and took a couple elevators down to Hotland, finding the river after a few minutes. Surely enough, there was a bell set up beside the river. He rang it and waited.  
  
A minute passed before he heard water sloshing on his left. He saw a cloaked figure riding on a boat with no paddles or oars. It wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen down here, though.   
  
The boat stopped in front of Sergio. The figure turned its head toward him, who couldn't make out its face.  
  
"Tra la la. I am the riverman. Or am I the riverwoman?" the cloaked figure added mysteriously. "It doesn't really matter. I love to ride on my boat. Would you care to join me?"  
  
"Depends. You goin' ta Snowdin?"  
  
"Snowdin it is, then. Hop on." Sergio carefully stepped on the slender boat, lowering his center of gravity when it began moving; there were no handles with which to stabilize himself as the boat autonomously moved. However, the boat was pretty stable in itself, so it became less of a concern.  
  
"Tra la la," the river person continued. "I heard Asgore has a favorite food." It was the only thing spoken between them during the short ride to Snowdin. As the atmosphere got colder, Sergio put his jacket and hood back on. Nevertheless, it was still refreshing from being in Hotland the last couple hours.  
  
When they reached Snowdin, Sergio hopped off and thanked the hooded figure. The snow crunching under his feet, he followed the path to Papyrus's residence. He turned left and was about to pass by the ill-labeled library when he felt something solid and cold hit him in the back of the head, the item dissolving.  _A snowball?_  He turned around to see two kids behind him, one a mouse with a scarf along the length of its body, the other a monster with devilish horns and an orange winter coat.  
  
The former said, "That's for Mettaton!"  
  
"What?" Sergio asked, wiping the excess snow from his hood.  
  
"You killed him!" the latter monster clarified.  
  
The human scowled. "Ain't you hear what Alphys said? Mettaton's still okay!"  
  
"Liar!" The mouse picked up another snowball and threw it at Sergio, who dissolved it with an umbrella swipe.  _Keep this up, and you gon' be next, homeboy._  
  
"HEY!" a gruff female voice called out in the distance. Undyne stormed towards them, dressed in her same black tank top and blue pants. Peculiar it was to see a non-furry creature dressed as such in cold weather. "Leave him alone!"  
  
The kids' anger shifted to apprehension when they saw the Royal Guard member approach them. They also looked confused as to why she, of all monsters, would defend him. Nonetheless, they noisily absconded from the premises.  
  
Undyne's tone changed to one of sincerity as she asked, "Hey, you all right?"  
  
Sergio laughed through his nose. "Neva betta."  
  
There was no fooling her; Undyne shot him a thoughtful look, clearly examining his facial expression. "You still bitter about Mettaton?"  
  
Whoa. Somebody  _actually_ cared about him more than that stupid robot for once! This actually meant a lot to Sergio, but he didn't want to let his feelings be the focus of their conversation. "I'mma be fine." He changed the subject. "Whatcha need me ta deliva?"  
  
It worked. Undyne said, "Right. So, uh, I have a favor to ask you. Uh, I...." She shifted around on her feet as she pulled out an envelope. "I need you to deliver this letter for me, to Dr. Alphys."  
  
Sergio took the envelope, eyeing it with suspicion. The monsters down here had their own kind of internet, as well as cell phone service. Undyne said she didn't have a phone earlier, and apparently the message was so important that she couldn't have used Papyrus's phone or contacted Alphys via computer. It seemed even more important considering that Undyne needed a courier to deliver the letter instead of doing it herself.   
  
Whatever was in the envelope, it must have been G-14 classified.  
  
"Aight, I'mma take it there," Sergio promised.  _Hope she'll let me in afta I yelled at 'er._  
  
"Oh, and if you read the letter, I'll KILL you!" Undyne threatened, gritting her teeth.  
  
"Pfft, you ain't the first person ta say that, and ya won't be the last. Whateva this is, it's safe wit me."  
  
The monster's attitude changed to gratitude, a wide smile across her face. "Thanks so much! You're the best!"  
  
 _Ya know, she really ain't that bad. 'S kinda nice ta do somethin' for 'er._  
  
Sergio thought more of the situation that had just happened as he walked back to summon the hooded river person. The confrontation he had with the two kids didn't seem that significant, but it was one of the only times a monster had stood up for him when no one else would have. It seemed a safe bet to assume that other monsters would have reacted similarly if they noticed him, although with much more lethal means. His track record of repaying his gratitude toward monsters who helped him was less than promising; he beat up the first person who helped him and potentially made the second person distance herself from him.   
  
He would not mess up a third time.  
  
The boat came back to Snowdin, only this time sporting a dog head in the front. The figure turned its head and spoke in a carefree voice, "Tra la la. You're back. Where are we going today?"  
  
"Can ya take me back ta Hotland?"   
  
"Hotland, eh? I can take you there." Sergio stepped on the boat before the figure continued, "Off we go."  
  


.     .     .

  
When Sergio made it to Alphys's lab, the locale produced an entirely different vibe from when he first came in here. He didn't know what to think of the lab before, but now the lab seemed...empty, as if there was an inexplicably significant item removed from the atmosphere, yet rife with danger. His immediate impression was to turn back right then and forget he'd ever come here, but he still made a promise to Undyne he intended to keep. Furthermore, if the lab seemed dangerous, it was likely Alphys was in peril, considering if she came directly back here after tending to Mettaton.   
  
The lights were on, which provided some relief, albeit small. Either she left the lights on when she left, or she was here. Nothing about the lab seemed out of the ordinary until he saw a note taped next to the elevator.   
  
 _Every time I try to help someone, it always makes people's lives worse. As a result, it seems that nobody can make my problems magically go away. I want to be a better person. I don't want to be afraid anymore. And for that to happen, I have to be able to face my own mistakes. I'm going to start doing that now. I want to be clear. This isn't anyone else's problem but mine. But if you don't ever hear from me again....If you want to know the "truth," enter the elevator here. You all at least deserve to know what I did._  
  
"Oh, naw!" Sergio dropped the note and immediately entered the elevator, pressing the only button he hadn't pressed on a control panel before. The elevator doors closed, and he began to descend.  
  
Whatever this thing was that Alphys had to solve by herself, it sounded perilous, even fatal. Sergio couldn't shake the feeling that he was a huge part in her doing this. She must have held this in the back of her mind ever since he fell down here, maybe even longer. She even said herself that this undertaking could kill her. He was NOT going to let her die partly because of something he said.  
  
The elevator seemed to have reached its floor, but then began falling rapidly, Sergio hearing a deafening low rumble. A computerized voice announced, "Warning! Warning! Elevator losing power! EM tether stability lost! Altitude dropping!" Sergio backed into a corner, holding on to the walls as he felt the sinking feeling in his stomach.   
  
 _CRASH!_ The elevator landed hard, sending a violent shockwave of force throughout Sergio's entire body. He stumbled, feeling agony in his feet and legs, but he still felt as if he could walk the rest of the way.  
  
It was pitch black in the elevator, so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Then the elevator door opened, letting a dim light in. He took a few steps outside the elevator and found himself in a dark room with tile floors. He turned on his phone's light to get a better view of the area. He jumped when the elevator door closed behind him.  
  
Something just didn't sit right with the place he was in now. While the lab above had the occasional beeping noise from the technology around it, this room was deathly silent. Sergio would stay on his guard as he traversed the second part of Alphys's lab.  
  
 _You ain't dyin' on my watch, Alphys._

* * *

 

**Next time on _There Goes the...Underground?_**

_"Aight, Alphys...what WERE those thangs?"_

_"I suppose I owe you an explanation...."_

_.     .     ._

_"Is...this the last time I'll get to see you?"_

_"Eitha way this goes, yeah. If I do survive, take good care a' Undyne."_

_"If you succeed, please...don't let him suffer."_

_.     .     ._

_"Tobias...are you there?"_

_"Man, you prank callin' me or somethin'? Tobias is dead!"_

_"You could never fool me, Tobias, although it_ has  _been a long time. Regardless you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. Tobias...see you soon."_

_.     .     ._

_"Oh? Back so soon? How are you feeling?"_ _  
_

_"You cain't tell me you care 'bout how I feel. That ain't yo' priority."_

_.     .     ._

_"Human....It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."_


	12. Deus Ex Machina?

  
He held his phone light in one hand and the umbrella in the other, cautiously stepping across the lab floor. He found a note on the ground that was barely legible: "elevator," "lost power," "enter the center door" were the only words he could read. He made a mental note of that and kept going.   
  
The only way he could go at that point was left, down a long hallway which led to a sort of operating room, complete with sinks and beds. He turned right and came across another note and a key slot on the wall. All Sergio could read from the note was, "drain...dropped it." Alphys must have meant the key to the slot. He went back and investigated the three sinks on the left side of the operating room. He shone his light down each drain in case the key could have been reached in one of them.   
  
Surely enough, he found something shiny in one of the drains. He reached in and grabbed it. It felt small and metallic as a key did, but it felt stuck. Sergio fidgeted the key until it was free from the drain, then walked back to the key slot. He inserted the key and heard an electronic  _ding_ before walking away from the slot room. He heard a bubbling from one of the sinks, then saw a white...something pop out from the drain. The thing had a face, which smiled at Sergio, leaving the human confused. Then the thing had shifted its form, now having at least two heads. It split itself into three identical beings, but what they looked like, the human couldn't describe.   
  
He  _did_ know that he wasn't messing with them.   
  
"I'm out!" Sergio hightailed it out of the operating room and dashed down the hall, finding a red light lit on the door of the first room. Red key, red light. He briefly stopped to check if the monster was giving chase, but other than a demonic laugh coming from his phone, there was no indication.   
  
The main door had green, yellow, and blue lights, which must have meant that there were keys with the same colors that needed to be put in somewhere. He gripped his umbrella more tightly before proceeding onward to a door that was now lit.  
  
He came to a room with more beds and a random dog food bowl near the corner. As he searched the room for another key, he found another shiny object under one of the beds' covers. He picked up a yellow key that had brightly shone in the phone's light and pocketed it.   
  
The room split off into two hallways, one just as mysterious as the other. He went left, which took him to another hall intersection. He went right. He thought to search everywhere until he found the other two keys, despite how dangerous it seemed.  
  
After turning, Sergio found a shower curtain closed in front of a bathtub, he assumed. A tubular shadow oscillated back and forth, visible on a purple curtain. The human thought this to be another monstrosity akin to the thing that had popped up from the sink drain. As he slowly approached it, the shadow moved faster and faster, as if reacting to Sergio's proximity to the tub. A part of him wanted to turn back, but a bigger part of him told him to look everywhere for the keys needed to get out of there. The object in the bathtub got louder and louder, unnerving to the human. When Sergio reached the tub, he opened the curtain, violently swinging his umbrella in an attempt to stun it. The tip of the umbrella scraped the wall behind it, but there was nothing in the tub, save for a green key. He stuffed the key in his pocket and hurried down the hall.   
  
He continued down the non-bathroom hall and entered a room with what looked like a large animal skull connected to wires in the rear wall and ceiling. Sergio found a shiny yellow mass on the floor, initially thinking it was another key. When he bent down to investigate it, the mass grew a face.  _NOPE!_ Sergio backed away from the mass and ran around it, seeing the mass transform into a formidable creature in his peripherals. He caught a slight whiff of lemon, for some odd reason. He didn't think about it too much as he cut into the next room.   
  
Sergio almost regretted going in there. While the previous room held a monster, he could still see what was going on in that room, albeit barely. In this room, however, it was quite foggy, rendering his visibility next to nil even with the phone light. He blindly felt his way across the room, bumping into one of the refrigerators as he desperately searched for the final key. He opened all the refrigerators in the room to no avail, only finding some fluid samples in a few of the fridges.   
  
After he checked the last fridge, he turned around to progress further. He heard a demonic laugh behind him and immediately whipped 180 degrees. Through the fog, he saw that the fridge he checked last wasn't there, but seemingly replaced by a tree-like organism with multiple faces. While the other abominations he'd seen down here were creepy  _and_ threatening, this one was just creepy, although Sergio did feel cold after seeing it.   
  
The monster seemed really calm, which eased Sergio's nerves. The human's eyes widened a bit when he saw the monster drop a shiny blue object, landing near the bottom of its "trunk." Sergio crouched slightly to grab it, cautious of any tricks the monster would try to pull. He felt magic formulate beside him, seeing the white disc that the bad comedian in Snowdin used when attacking him. Unlike the comedian, however, this attack was relatively easy to avoid. In fact, the disc hardly came to him. Sergio touched the key with his umbrella, slid it toward himself, and grabbed it. The monster showed no reaction. No threat, no problem. He flashed a thumbs-up at the monster and turned toward the room past the fridges.   
  
The fog was a bit less prevalent in this small room. All that was in it was a green key slot. Sergio facepalmed as he realized that he had passed more of these earlier. He inserted the green key into the slot and began retracing his steps throughout the underground lab. He moved swiftly in case the monsters he met were still beefing, but they had all vanished as far as he knew.   
  
He went back to the main underground door, all of its light lit up now. The door opened, revealing the inside of an elevator. None of the elevator lights were on, which must have meant that it was out of order. However, there was a second elevator entrance to Sergio's left. He took the turn and walked down another hallway.   
  
Sergio eventually came across a large control panel with a big red button. A quick perusal of the labels told him that it controlled the elevator power. Naturally, he pressed the red button. An electronic hum accompanied the press, giving much-needed assurance that he was only a few steps out of there. But then, more ghastly figures suddenly appeared, closing in on him. He flipped his umbrella and prepared to slip away from the monsters in any way he could. However, the resonating demonic laughter had rattled him, and the figures left no holes through which to escape.   
  
Which meant he'd need to make one.   
  
He opened the umbrella and charged toward the middle of them. As if expecting this, the monsters created a sort of magical barrier to keep him trapped. Sergio tried sticking his umbrella through the white wall, but it was as solid as a rock. He wasn't getting past them. He backed up towards, about to activate the gun application on his phone....  
  
"Hey! Stop!" he heard a shrill voice say. The figures ceased their movement, their murderous expressions shifting to seriousness. Sergio then heard footsteps getting louder and louder, seeing a familiar monster in a lab coat through one of the ghastly figures. "I got you guys some food, okay?!" Her expression looked strained, desperate. Nonetheless, the figures happily bounced along, leaving Sergio alone with the monster.   
  
Seeing Alphys again was bittersweet. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but was hesitant to initiate the conversation. Sergio was certainly in the same boat.   
  
A few questions sprang up in the human's mind, but one had taken precedence over the others. Disregarding tact, Sergio asked, wide-eyed, "Aight, Alphys, what WEREthose thangs?"  
  
Alphys sighed. "I suppose I owe you an explanation, since you came down here." The two started walking toward the elevator as she began explaining slowly, "Those guys were part of a top-secret operation that Asgore had me do. He had asked me to study the nature of souls. During my research, I isolated a power I called 'determination.' I injected it into dying monsters so their souls would last after death. But...the experiment failed."  
  
"Clearly."  
  
"Unlike humans' bodies, monsters' bodies don't have enough physical matter to take those concentrations of 'determination.' Their bodies started to melt and lost what physicality they had. Pretty soon, all the test subjects had melted together into...those. Seeing them like this, I knew I couldn't tell their families about it. I couldn't tell anyone about it, no matter how much everyone was asking me. And I was too afraid to do any more work, knowing everything I'd done so far had been such a horrific failure."  
  
Silence. Sergio stopped to ponder all of this. This explained why Alphys was always nervous; she was doing some voodoo that brought about more bad than good. To be honest, he probably would have done the same thing if he were in her shoes.  
  
He also noticed that Alphys's stutter was gone now.   
  
"Why was Asgore so interested in messin' wit souls? Was it just ta break the barrier?"  
  
"It's more complicated than that. Before even I was born, Asgore and Toriel were king and queen of the underground. They had a son named Asriel. One day, the first human child had fallen down here."   
  
 _Tobias,_ Sergio thought.   
  
Alphys continued, "From what I've heard, the royal family treated the human like their own. The human child then fell ill and eventually died down here. Asriel...." She shook her head. "He took the human up to the surface somehow, and the humans must have thought that he killed the human. The other humans almost killed him when Asriel escaped back underground. But the damage had already been done. When he came back, he eventually died in Asgore's arms.  
  
"But the strangest thing happened. Asriel's soul left him, and the human's soul was combined with it, which explains how he went to the surface in the first place. Asgore kept those souls for decades until I came along. That was the main reason why Asgore has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to humans."  
  
Sergio was dumbstruck, his mouth agape. Suddenly, Asgore's philosophy of "kill all the humans" made sense. It wasn't just about breaking the barrier. The one time he gave humans a chance and spared the first human who came down here, and it ended up killing who appeared to be his only son. It wasn't exactly Father of the Year material, but it was completely understandable.   
  
"Can I ask you something?" said Alphys, breaking Sergio's train of thought.   
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Why did you come back for me? I thought that when I told you the truth after Mettaton...."  
  
Sergio felt like giving the feelings-based reason, about how he would have felt guilty if Alphys didn't make it and whatnot, but he decided to spare her the dramatics. Besides, he still didn't forget about his mission to ship out of this place.   
  
"I got somethin' for ya." Sergio reached into his pocket and handed her the envelope. "'S from Undyne."  
  
Alphys took the letter cautiously, as if she was afraid to open it.  
  
They had reached the elevator at that point, and one look told Sergio that it was back in operation. He figured it was about time for him to leave.  
  
"Listen, Alphys, 'fore I leave, I jest wanna say thank you, again, fa savin' me from those...thangs," he gestured toward the room they left. "Guess this is goodbye...for real this time."  
  
"Is...this the last time I'll get to see you?"  
  
"Eitha way this goes, yeah." Some of the spirit was lost in his voice. "If I do survive...take good care a' Undyne."  
  
Alphys nodded in comprehension. Her eyes imploring, she said, "If you succeed...please, don't let him suffer...."  
  
 _Don't worry. I'mma make this as quick as possible. I'm tryna get OUTTA this place._  
  
Sergio went inside the elevator without another word, extending a peace sign to the monster. The elevator door closed between them.   
  
As soon as he reached for one of the options on the control panel, he heard his phone ring. He pressed a button on his headset.   
  
"Yo."  
  
The voice seemed almost familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where exactly he heard it last.   
  
"Tobias...are you there?"  
  
"Man, you prank callin' me or somethin'? Tobias is dead."  
  
The voice laughed. "You could never fool me, Tobias. Although, it  _has_ been a long time, hasn't it? Regardless, you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. Tobias...see you soon."  
  
"I ain't To-!"  _Click!_ Great. Now someone else thought he was the first human to come down here. It was bad enough to know that Asgore had gotten Sergio confused for someone else. He pressed up on the control panel. The elevator started rising normally, then shook violently. Sergio gritted his teeth as he backed into a corner, trying to hold on to something during the elevator's brutal ascent. The light flashed red, but Sergio heard no computerized voice this time.   
  
 _CLUNK!_ When the elevator had reached its destination, Sergio was lifted up a few inches before his feet hit the elevator's floor. The door opened, and he shot out of the door. He wasn't a moment too soon, as the doors had shut just when his backpack had cleared the doorway. The elevator door inexplicably grew vines, shutting out anyone who wanted to take it. Sergio dusted off his hoodie and continued on.   
  
Before re-entering the throne room, he took his knife out of his backpack, putting the umbrella in his left hand. This time, he was certain of what he was going to do. He had always prioritized his own safety, and he wasn't going to stop now. He ignored the pangs in his mind when he thought about how he would devastate his friends. Would he get over the guilt of leaving those he called friends to waste away? Again?  
  
 _Sergio approached the bright hallway, the light shooting from the entrance toward whatever was beyond. Asgore had his back turned toward him. The human's eyes bucked when he realized his opportunity. He jumped forward, knife in hand, and brought his hand back. He stuck the knife in the back of the monarch's neck, tackling Asgore in the process. When the king went down, he tried to summon magic in a final act of defiance, but the paralysis prevented him from moving as a river of crimson flowed from his nape._  
  
 _The human felt a strange new feeling entering him. He had the prerequisites needed in order to get out of the underground. He was finally free._  
  
But Sergio didn't have such luck. When he came back to the barrier for real, Asgore seemed to be waiting for him, as if expecting the human to enact what he imagined. The king was sitting cross-legged, facing the entrance. Asgore opened his eyes as soon as Sergio stepped in.  
  
"Oh? Back so soon? How are you feeling?" said Asgore, standing on his feet now. His eyes shifted toward the knife in Sergio's hands, unfazed.  
  
"You cain't tell me you care 'bout how I feel. That ain't yo' priority."  
  
Asgore closed his eyes, taking another deep breath. He was quite steadfast in acting hurt from Sergio's words. The human didn't forget the reason why Asgore started killing kids. He also didn't care at this point.   
  
 _Freedom is mine_.  
  
"I take it you're ready, then?" Asgore inquired, still keeping a friendly disposition. Sergio twirled his knife in the air, silent. Asgore nodded. "I see. This is it, then."  
  
Sergio heard pressurized air beside him, seeing six tubes holding floating hearts. They looked like the heart he had on his shirt when fighting monsters, except these hearts were different colors, like yellow and purple. There was a seventh tube that was empty.   
  
Then the area went dark around them, Sergio's aforementioned "heart" appearing on his shirt. Though the immediate area was darkened, a dim light was shining through the barrier.  
  
"Human..." Asgore moaned. The king brought about a sad smile. "It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."   
  
The next occurrences happened so fast. Sergio heard frantic footsteps. He felt heat on his left arm. A flame hit Asgore square in the chest, knocking him over. Sergio cocked his head behind himself.   
  
"Not him, Dreemurr," someone said, her countenance matching her voice's intensity.   
  
"Toriel?" Sergio asked, his weapons still tightly gripped. He was correct; the goat lady he met when he first came here was there in the flesh, fire dissipating from her fist. He could still faintly see where he hit her with a pistol handle.  
  
Like Asgore's, Toriel's eyes shifted to the knife in Sergio's hand. There was no hiding the pure disgust in her eyes. "You were about to do it."  
  
 _Nah, ya think?_ Once again, a mixture of emotions ran through Sergio's mind. He glanced at Asgore, who was still temporarily incapacitated. How was the king going to react to his former queen thwarting his plans?  
  
Welp, it didn't matter now. He would thank Toriel for the assist later. He took two steps toward Asgore, about to make his attack.  
  
"SERGIO!" The sudden, one-word command was enough to make the human stop, which only led to more questions. He'd already fought Toriel once, and he didn't feel like going for a second round. He stuck the knife in his pocket.   
  
The former queen visibly calmed down now, her shoulders lowering slightly.   
  
"Why'd you come back for me?" Sergio asked, crossing his arms.  
  
"At first, I thought I would let you make your journey alone, but I could not stop worrying about you." Her voice nearly cracked with every word, displaying true concern.  
  
"You worried about the guy who slapped you up back in the ruins?"  
  
Toriel clenched her jaw. "Those were circumstances that I had brought on myself. But I still believe you needed to get through that. Your journey must have been treacherous."  
  
"Nah, dealin' wit a homicidal fish and an equally egomaniacal robot was jest a walk in the park."   
  
"Are you still angry with me?"  
  
"Ya  _did_ save my life twice, but ya still tried ta kill me in orda ta make sure you wouldn't be alone in the ruins. Given them circumstances, yeah, I'm still a bit salty 'bout that."  
  
"I told you already, Sergio, that I wanted to protect you. Once I let you go, I realized that ultimately you would have been burdened with a horrible choice. To leave this place, you would have to take the life of another person. You would have had to kill Asgore."  
  
"Oh, yeah, thanks for the memo. And it looks like you already halfway there," Sergio gestured to the unconscious king, who showed no signs of coming to as of yet.   
  
Toriel briefly looked at Asgore, hardly giving him a second thought. "I only stunned him to end the battle between you two. I couldn't allow that battle to happen. It is not right to sacrifice someone simply to let someone leave here."  
  
"But it's right ta use ya fire voodoo on a brotha ta make sure ya don't feel lonely. Not only that, but since ya won't let me show Asgore what's good, you essentially keepin' me trapped down here." He slowly walked toward Toriel as he continued, "No matta how much you want it ta be that way, Toriel, this'll  _neva_ be a home for me. I would neva feel truly happy here."  
  
"Would you feel happy knowing that you killed Asgore?"  
  
"I woulda done what I needed ta do. And, as far as I know, I ain't eva pegged you as an Asgore groupie."  
  
Toriel shot him a look of warning, urging him to tread lightly. Sergio's will was steel, especially after seeing what went down in the underground lab.   
  
"As terrible as Asgore is, he deserves mercy, too," the former queen said through clenched teeth.   
  
Sergio heard a rustle of clothes from behind him. Asgore had finally re-awakened from Toriel's attack. His face softened immediately when he saw his former other half.  
  
"Tori..." he said tenderly. "You came back."  
  
"Do  **not** 'Tori' me, Dreemurr!" Toriel had gone from a two to a ten instantly when Asgore addressed her. After the king's good-natured smile vanished, Toriel carried on, more calmly, "You pathetic whelp. If you really wanted to free our kind, you could have gone through the barrier after you got ONE SOUL, taken six souls from the humans, then come back and freed everyone peacefully."  
  
 _Aw, snap._  Did Sergio walk into a roasting session, in more than one sense of the term? He eyed Asgore, whose expression hardened slightly as he came right back at Toriel.  _Getcha popcorn ready._  
  
"My skills with magic are great, but I know of the tragedies that happened with our forefathers in the war between humans and monsters. What they lack in magical skills, they make up for in determination, as well as numbers. If I had died trying to get more human souls, we would have gone back to square one."  
  
"Your fear of defeat had kept your subjects in despair. Instead, you would rather wait here, meekly hoping another human comes."  
  
"You think I don't care about the subjects? As I recall, you were the only one who left the crown when the going got tough. Think about it, Tori. We gave Tobias a chance to be a part of our family. He had given the whole underground hope. Then when he died, along with our son...our  _other_ son,  _that's_ when the despair came around. Do you think you improved morale by abdicating your throne? And if I  _did_ die in trying to free our people, would you have taken the throne and done things against your morals, or would you have waited, as I did?"  
  
"I left the throne because I knew I wasn't the one to rule over the underground. You ought to have done the same thing."  
  
"Who would have taken the throne after me? Our prince is  _gone_." Asgore's voice quavered a bit in the last word. He let out a shaky breath as he closed his eyes, as if trying to fight back tears. He shot a look of longing toward Sergio, possibly reminiscing of the times where Tobias was still around.   
  
"NGAAAAH! Sergio! Asgore! Nobody fight each other!" The gruff, passionate voice of Undyne had broken the despondent silence. She came running into the scene, her face scrunched up in resolve.  
  
"Undyne?" Sergio said incredulously.  
  
"Everyone's gonna make friends, or else, I'll...I'll...!" She finally seemed to notice her former queen nearby.  
  
Speaking of whom, Toriel had altered her outward emotion completely, taking on a cordial approach to Undyne. "Hello. I am Toriel. Are you Sergio's friend? It is nice to meet you."  
  
 _HOW does Toriel do that?!_ Sergio didn't know if it was impressive or frightening to see the former queen switch gears like that.   
  
Undyne received the change in atmosphere quite well, flashing a wide grin. "Uh, yeah? Nice to meet you!" The guard walked over to Asgore and muttered, "Hey, Asgore, is that your ex?" The king's continued shaky breathing confirmed her question. "Jeez, that's rough, buddy."  
  
"H-hey! Nobody hurt each other!" called a stammering voice that could have only belonged to the underground's resident scientist. Alphys stopped in her tracks when she saw everyone.   
  
"Oh! Are you another friend?" asked Toriel, completely forgetting about Asgore, it appeared. "I am Toriel. Hello!"  _Politicians be like....  
  
_ "Uh, h-h-hi!" She then whispered to Sergio, "There's two of them?"  
  
"I was jest as surprised as you are."  
  
"Hey! Nobody fight anyone!" The familiar out-of-tune trumpet voice came back, and in came Papyrus. "If anyone fights anyone, then I'll be forced to ask Undyne for help!"  
  
"Looks like she beat you to the punch, my dude," Sergio commented.   
  
"Hello!" Toriel greeted the skeleton.   
  
"Oh! Hello, Your Majesty!" Sergio noticed that Papyrus was the only one to verbally acknowledge Toriel's former queenship. Then Papyrus whispered to Sergio, "Psst, human, did Asgore shave and...clone himself?"   
  
"Wh-what?" The question left Sergio bewildered.  
  
"Hey guys, what's up?" And to complete the myriad of monsters came Sans, with the calmest greeting of them all.   
  
Toriel gasped. "That voice!" She immediately walked toward Sans. "Hello, I think we may...know each other?"  
  
Sans nonchalantly answered, "Oh, hey. I recognize your voice, too."  
  
"I am Toriel. Nice to meet you."  
  
The shorter skeleton winked. "The name's Sans. And, uh, same."  
  
Sergio shook his head. If Sans was macking, he surely knew how to pick his women. Sergio just hoped that Toriel didn't do some crazy stuff if Sans wanted to have a guys' night out or something.   
  
The human also noticed Asgore silently shedding tears, Undyne and Alphys comforting him. He almost felt bad for the king after hearing more of his background.  
  
"So that must mean...." Toriel turned her head to Papyrus. "This must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you! Your brother has told me so much about you!"  
  
Red rushed to Papyrus's face. "Wowie....I can't believe Asgore's clone knows who I am! This is the best day of my life!"  
  
Toriel produced a mischievous smile as she said, "Hey, Papyrus, what does a skeleton tile his roof with?"  
  
"Hmm...snow-proof roof tiles?" the taller skeleton answered earnestly.  
  
"No, silly! A skeleton tiles his roof with...SHIN-gles!"  
  
Sans and Toriel were the only one smiling after that incredibly lame joke.   
  
"I changed my mind! This is the worst day of my life!" Papyrus declared.   
  
"Come on, Asgore, it's gonna be okay!" Sergio heard Undyne say. "There are plenty of fish in the sea!"  
  
"Y-yeah, Asgore!" Alphys concluded. "Undyne's totally right about that fish thing! S-sometimes you've just got to, uh...s-stop going after furry boss monsters and, uh...just get to know a really cute fish?"  
  
This revelation had floored Sergio. The "G-14 classified" document that he had delivered was just a love letter. Now, Undyne and Alphys were in a relationship. He never would have guessed it.  
  
Either that, or Alphys was just macking, too.  
  
With a serious expression, Toriel turned to Sergio and asserted, "With all the friends you've made down here, Sergio, can you really say that the underground would never feel like a home?"  
  
The former queen had a point. If he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he had no other choice but to stay in the underground forever, he guessed it wouldn't have been all bad. However, like the monsters, he held a desire to see the sunlight once more. Appeasing his friends and doing what he truly wanted seemed to oppose each other.   
  
But he didn't have the heart to ruin the moment for his friends, not then.   
  
"Looking at the friends you've made, I think you  _will_ be happy here," Toriel continued, showing a smile that didn't seem forced. Of course, she seemed happy because Asgore wasn't the focal point of the conversation.   
  
"H-hey, that reminds me...Papyrus, YOU called everyone here, right? Well, besides, uh, her," Alphys gestured to Toriel. "Uh, anyway, if I got here before you, how did you know to call everybody?"  
  
"Let's just say... **a tiny flower helped me,** " Papyrus responded. Alarms went off in Sergio's head, and it looked as if Alphys felt the same way.   
  
The scientist shuddered as she said, "A tiny...flower?"  
  
Just then, a thorny vine surrounded all six of the monsters, strangling and lifting them from the ground. All of them became red in the face as they struggled to free themselves from the vine's grasp.   
  
This could have only been the work of one monster, and he popped out of the ground to confirm Sergio's suspicions. The human took out his knife and looked for an opening to attack.  
  
"You IDIOTS," Flowey announced, using his trademark demonic smile. "While you guys were having your little pow-wow, I took the human souls! And now, not only are THOSE under my power, but all of your friends' souls are gonna be mine, too!" The flower snickered as he went on, "Do you know what the best part is? It's all because you MADE THEM love you. All the time you spent listening to them, encouraging them, caring about them....Without that, they wouldn't have come here."  
  
"Pretty sure it was also 'cause they ain't want me ta body they king," Sergio pointed out, gritting his teeth.  
  
"No matter. And now, with their souls, and the humans' together, I will achieve my real form, as will you. That is,  _if_ you are who I think you are...Tobias."  
  
Sergio's face twitched. "It ain't goin' down like that, partna!" Disregarding all tactics, he charged toward the menacing flower, yelling as he brought the knife back. He saw more "friendliness pellets" take shape in front of him. He showed more awareness this time by swatting them away. However, he didn't account for the pellets behind him, taking quite a few shots to the back. He staggered a bit before resuming his charge. When he saw more pellets around him, he tried to spin around to deflect them, but they were too fast for him. He didn't even register the third wave of pellets that were dangerously close to bringing him down. The agony building up throughout his entire body made him collapse, the human now kneeling.   
  
He didn't know which part about this sucked the most: the fact that he couldn't help his friends now, or the fact that he was about to take another L from a  _flower_. Regardless, Flowey's prolonged demonic laughter had confirmed one thing.   
  
It was the end of the road for your local hood rat.   
  
He could feel his death approaching once more as the pellets got closer, closer....He couldn't bear to see the strained expressions of all the friends...the only  _true_ friends he had. Not only did he fail in getting out of here, he failed his friends, and they were going to suffer the same fate as he did.  
  
Initially, he thought his life was flashing before his eyes, like in the movies. But what Sergio had seen in his mind was definitely not from his life. In the midst of his corporal pain, he felt a growing warmth from within. Was this the comfort one felt when passing onto the afterlife, or something better? He felt most of the heat in his hands, then a strange force being expelled from his body. Sergio opened his eyes, realizing that whatever force had overcome him possibly saved him from a fatal blow.  
  
Even Flowey looked bewildered. "What?"  
  
"Do not be afraid, my child," Toriel said, struggling to get her words out. "No matter what happens, we will always be there to protect you!" Sergio felt a bit of his life force being restored unto him, his strength slightly increased.   
  
The human felt two more volleys of pellets coming at him from both his right and left. He got the instinct to extend his arms toward the pellets, and then a bone blocked attacks on the right, a spear on the left.   
  
Was  _he_ doing this? Or were his friends helping him out during his final battle?   
  
"That's right, Sergio! You can win!" Papyrus asserted, a reassuring smile on his skeleton face. "Just do what I would do: Believe in you!"  
  
"Hey, Sergio, if you got past ME, you can do ANYTHING!" Undyne announced, her wide grin apparent through what had to be excruciating pain now. "So don't worry! We're with you all the way!" Again, Sergio felt some of his strength return to him, so much so that he was able to stand on his own two feet again.   
  
It felt as if Sergio willed magic to help defend himself, even though his allies were the ones who could control that stuff. He then thought of the time when he fought against Undyne and how he got a sort of intuition as to where her attacks were coming from. He assumed that this same thing was happening here.   
  
"Huh? You haven't beaten this guy yet?" Sans chimed in. "Come on, this weirdo's got nothin' on you." Sergio was breathing more easily now after hearing the other skeleton's words of encouragement.   
  
More pellets. Sergio felt heat on his right arm as he, or Toriel, blocked another volley. Energy crackled within him as electric bolts dissolved a volley coming from his left. Whatever was going on, Sergio hoped that it would continue.  
  
"Technically, it's impossible for you to beat him...." said Alphys.  
  
"Heh-heh, thanks for the encouragement, Alphys," Sergio remarked, raising an eyebrow. Slightly warm flames and electricity slowly faded from his fists.  
  
"B-but somehow, I know you can do it!" Alphys concluded.  
  
"Human, for the future of humans and monsters, you have to stay determined!" Even Asgore was stepping in, helping Sergio out, even though the king was trying to kill the very same human not twenty minutes ago!  
  
Flowey let out an impatient snort. "These trite sentiments are all well and good, but if the human is even worth caring about, he will defeat me  _without_ your help!" After an intimidating laugh, Flowey called out in three distinct, simultaneous voices, "Subjects of King Asgore,  **your souls will be mine!** " It was a voice that no doubt reached everybody else below the surface. Sergio inferred that more vines were sprouting throughout the community, as the earth shook violently around them. The monsters' faces of assurance had shifted to pure anxiety as they witnessed what happened next. A bright light originated from the center of Flowey's stem. Sergio shielded his eyes and lowered his center of gravity to keep his balance.  
  
When the light dissipated, there was absolute blackness surrounding the human. Then, something had stuck out in the darkness: a goat boy wearing a green and yellow sweater. The boy was a bit taller than Sergio was.   
  
The boy's back was turned to Sergio, but the human had an inkling about who it was. The goat's head turned slightly, either shaking his head in disbelief or looking around. He flexed his fingers. Then he let out a laugh that didn't sound diabolical, but shallow and empty all the same.   
  
"Finally," the goat spoke. "I was so tired of being a flower." It was the voice Sergio had heard on the phone after escaping the lab. In some crazy transformation, Flowey had become a bipedal creature by absorbing his friends' souls, the human souls, and possibly every other soul in the underground except Sergio's.   
  
The goat turned around. He had the same face that Sergio had seen in a dream after Undyne destroyed the bridge in Waterfall.   
  
"Howdy! Tobias, are you there?" The goat had a deeper voice, as if he'd gone through puberty since Sergio's dream.   
  
"Fa the last time, stop callin' me Tobias!" Sergio didn't know at the time why it struck such a nerve within him, but the slightly cocky way Flowey, or whatever he was now, addressed him as such just got under his skin.  
  
"Why do you act like you don't recognize me, Tobias? It's me, your best friend...." Another flash of light, and the goat boy Sergio had just seen started floating. He got much taller, started wearing the same robes that Toriel wore, and his horns had become larger. ".... **ASRIEL DREEMURR!** "  
  
Wait. This was Toriel's SON? Flowey, all this time, was the offspring of the king and queen of the underground?! According to Alphys, he should have been dead!   
  
Well, Sergio would send the prince back to the grave if it meant freeing himself and his friends. Having gained his full strength again, he picked up the knife and umbrella. He clenched his jaw, glowering at Flow-uh, Asriel.  
  
"I don't care if you a flowa or a goat, you still gon' get this work!"

* * *

 

**To be continued....**


	13. There Goes the Underground

Asriel wasted no time in starting the battle, sending a wave of fireballs at Sergio. The human swatted the fire away with his umbrella, charging at the floating goat. When he was within striking distance, Sergio lunged the knife up at Asriel's chest. The monster hovered backward, just out of the knife's reach. Sergio swung the umbrella at Asriel's waist, missing by inches once more.  
  
"Would you like to try again?" Asriel teased, his voice only slightly altered from the one before his transformation. He sent another wave of fire towards Sergio, the human defending himself just as easily. However, Sergio threw the knife full force at the monster, attempting to catch him off guard. Asriel caught the knife by the blade just as it was about to hit his chest. With a surge of magical energy pulsing through his arms, the monster snapped the knife in half as easily as a toothpick. He dropped the two pieces of the once-useful weapon.  
  
"How unfortunate. That was almost effective." After taunting Sergio again, Asriel lifted a hand out to summon another spell. The human sensed magic coming from above, beams in star-shaped formations. The stars made the earth tremble as they collided with the ground, separating into smaller stars spreading throughout the battlefield. Sergio kept his balance and swatted stars away four times, dodging the rest of them. A large star crashed in between them, causing Sergio to collapse. Fortunately, he was able to duck under most of the white stars that spread to all directions.   
  
There had to be a reason these attacks were easy to avoid. It was almost as though Asriel was gradually testing Sergio's defensive abilities against magic. Every succeeding volley would be harder to dodge than the last.   
  
A real problem for Sergio was attacking. It was bad enough that Asriel wasn't giving him a big enough window to do damage, but it was pointless to consider an offensive strategy without a means to attack. If Asriel could have snapped a knife with his bare hands, the umbrella wouldn't have been any better. Sergio doubted the phone's gun application would have been more than a way to tick the monster off.  
  
The monster folded his hands, lifting his index fingers. Sergio felt magical energy in the atmosphere, inferring that more aerial attacks were coming his way. He stepped forward, left, right, left, and backward to avoid beams of electricity that shot down at him, his skin feeling as staticky as clothes from a dryer without fabric softener.   
  
Asriel extended his arms perpendicular to his body, conjuring dual two-foot swords with elegant hilt designs. He zoomed toward Sergio, swinging the swords haphazardly at his foe. Sergio got a sense of where the monster would attack and dodged left, ducked, and cut forward, ending up behind the floating monster. He lunged the handle of his umbrella towards Asriel's back, but the monster, with a quick 180-degree turn, caught the umbrella with one sword and knocked it out of Sergio's hand with the other. He followed up with a diagonal swing that Sergio almost completely dodged, the human briefly grasping his collarbone.   
  
It hurt just as much as a regular sword wound would have, Sergio imagined, but he was still in fighting condition. He was lucky the sword didn't come in contact with the heart on his shirt. He figured that an attack there would have been a bullet to the head.  
  
"After all the pain you've inflicted, that should be  _nothing_ to you," Asriel remarked, his evil smile ever-present on his face. He threw his two swords at Sergio, who, without an umbrella, was defenseless. Sergio crouched under the swords just when they were about to hit him, but the swords had dissolved into small orbs of light that had homed in on him. One hit the side of his head, the other on his arm. Sergio gritted his teeth; the orbs were nothing compared to swords, but that didn't mean they didn't hurt.  
  
Asriel summoned more electricity to cascade onto Sergio, who shuffled back and forth to avoid the attacks. The human could have sworn he felt the hair on his head and arms stand on end after those close brushes with death. The monster then produced a bizarre weapon that looked almost like a harp, aiming one end at Sergio. Right before it fired, the human heard a quick beeping noise and saw a few lasers shoot out from the weapon. The lasers didn't harm him; rather, they seemed more like an aiming mechanism. The weapon vibrated in Asriel's hand, and magical bullets shot out toward Sergio. He cut in between rows of bullets, using the lasers as a reference. Asriel kept firing, however, the rate of fire increasing with every volley. Four bullets caught Sergio at the top of his chest, knocking him on his back. The human winced as he lay on the ground, refocusing on the battle when he heard a low whirr from Asriel's weapon. He instinctively rolled to his right to barely avoid a large beam of multicolored magic.   
  
"I fear I'm making this too easy for you, Tobias. Allow me to fix that." Asriel's face brightly lit up as he opened his mouth wide. Sergio felt an intense wind gradually bringing him closer to the monster. Shock coursed through Sergio's veins as he realized what Asriel was doing: He was trying to devour the human's soul. After seeing what he could do with six other human souls, he shuddered to think what he would have done with an extra one.  
  
However, if Asriel was successful in that endeavor, Sergio would have been too dead to care.   
  
Sergio lowered his center of gravity, digging his feet into the stony ground. He still felt himself being sucked into the deadly vortex. Then, something fast and hard impacted the back of his head, almost knocking him out. Seeing stars, Sergio blinked and shook his head in order to regain his composure.   
  
It felt as though he had a massive headache, hearing slight ringing in his ears. He put his hands on the ground for added friction, him being five feet away from Asriel now. He was almost afraid to look back in case Asriel had another trick up his sleeve. Nevertheless, he chanced a rearward glance and found white blurs being attracted by the vortex. He desperately crawled away from the vortex while being wary of any more objects threatening to collide with him. He fought for every inch, his hands and knees getting scraped as the vortex worked against him....  
  
Sergio then collapsed onto his chest. The vortex had suddenly stopped, the force he was exerting bringing him down. He pushed himself back up, albeit slowly. He turned to face Asriel, who almost looked impressed.  
  
"Even after that attack, you're still standing." Asriel closed his eyes and shrugged, shaking his head. "You really ARE something special. But don't get cocky. Up until now, I've only been using a fraction of my real power. For your sake, I hope you can say the same for yourself!"  
  
Sergio's vision blurred as another flash of light blinded him. When the light faded, Asriel had gone through  _another_ transformation, possessing even longer horns and enormous, colorful wings. He had a circular chest plate, with a small heart emblazoned on it.   
  
 _That's where the souls is bein' kept,_ Sergio thought. If he'd had a weapon, he would have broken the seal that inhibited all the souls from returning to their owners. It had to have been the monster's weak point.  
  
Asriel shot a clawed hand towards Sergio, bright streams of magic emerging from his palm. The human was too injured to move at full speed, and the streams had pinned his limbs against the wall behind him. Despite how much Sergio struggled against his restraints, he hardly budged.   
  
The monster produced a cold, heartless laugh. "I think I want to make your suffering slow, as punishment for your insolence." He spread his arms out, casting quick magic at Sergio, aiming directly at the human's chest. At least ten bolts had hit Sergio, a vein visible in his temple; regardless, he did not yell out.  
  
Asriel studied Sergio carefully, moving closer to him. "Your resilience is admirable, though it will hardly matter now. I'm beginning to realize that your friends were wrong to put their trust in you."  
  
Sergio said nothing as he pondered ways to escape his predicament. He futilely moved his arms and legs again, gritting his teeth. Thoughts of his prolonged, imminent death began to cloud his mind....  
  
 _No! I ain't catchin' no L's!_ Sergio thought hard, closing his eyes. A few more magic bolts found their way to his chest, the added agony weighing down on his being. He didn't know if the darkness in his vision was attributed to his proximity to death, unconsciousness, or both. Every bone, tendon, and muscle in his body flared with suffering, screaming in protest from the strain Asriel was putting Sergio through.  
  
"You were the last soul Father needed. If he was wise, he would have killed you on sight. I'm sure you would have preferred a trident to the chest instead of this, Tobias."   
  
Sergio's breathing was heavy, his chest expanding and contrasting, his shoulders moving up and down. After he suffered another volley of attacks and listened to Asriel's sadistic laughter, his entire body began shaking.   
  
Could he summon his low-key Jedi powers in a time like this? The answer would have decided his fate....

##  **.     .     .**

_"Mama, please stop! You drunk enough as it is!"_   
_  
Sergio's mother gripped his throat and slammed the back of his head onto a doorframe, so that it wouldn't leave a mark as she had done to the wall. The young child's eyes welled with tears as he winced from the overbearing scent of beer.  
  
"I know for a FACT you ain't jest talk back ta me!" his mother yelled in his face.   
_

##  **.     .     .**

_  
He yelped as his mother shoved him toward the kitchen counter, pots and pans falling onto him as he collapsed to the ground. He croaked, "What did I do wrong, Mama?"  
  
The hopeless woman gritted her teeth, answering only with a swift kick to the ribs.   
_

##  **.     .     .**

_  
"WHY'S IT SMOKIN' IN HERE?!" Sergio's mother's voice was never slurred when she was inebriated, but one could tell if she was sober or not based on her dour attitude. The smoke alarm had woken her up from a nap.  
  
The child removed the pan from the burner, glancing at the smoking contents. The first time he tried cooking by himself, and _this  _had to happen._ _He had incurred the wrath of his mother by trying to learn how to take care of himself, because it didn't look as if his mother would do a good job herself.  
  
His mother stomped toward him, Sergio instinctively backing away. She blocked the only exit from the kitchen, cornering him. She picked up the hot pan from the counter. The child knew what was coming and stuck his arms up defensively. His mother brought the pan down on him hard.  
_

##  **.     .     .**

  
All these events had made him feel completely defenseless, and it was horrible to think that his mother was the cause of all of them. Since he'd come down here, he at least felt as if he could have fended for himself, without having to worry about anyone overpowering him. He thought he was free from that fear.  
  
Now, however, it wasn't the case. He was back to being a human punching bag, meant to suffer endless pain without having the chance to do something about it.   
  
From hopelessness sprung rage within Sergio, one that had continued to flare in his mind. It was bad enough to allow himself to be abused by his mother, but the same occurrence with a monster he didn't know was enough.  
  
Slowly, he regained awareness of the situation. Not much time had passed since the last volley, Asriel still stared at him, as if gauging Sergio's reaction to his dilemma, potentially preparing another magical volley.  
  
 _ **No. More.**_  
  
With a determined yell, Sergio struggled one more time against his restraints. He didn't feel them budging, but he felt something quite warm in his wrists and ankles. This warmth abruptly spread throughout his entire body, with his chest being the hottest point. Then, he felt a sudden falling sensation, his feet lightly hitting the ground again.   
  
He looked down at his body. Everything from his shoes to his pants to his jacket was blazing in an orange-hot flame, although the fire didn't seem to pose an immediate danger to him. His blood tingled as it coursed through his entire body. His awareness and strength felt to be on a higher plane.   
  
Sergio looked at Asriel, who still appeared shocked at what happened. In an act of rage, he brought a fist back, as if preparing to throw something. He felt something solid in his hand. Solid was enough for him. He cast whatever was in his hand directly at Asriel. The object was a blur before it had stopped, lodging itself in Asriel's torso. The monster went wide-eyed as he stared at a bright spear poking out from his stomach. A small fracture appeared from the point of impact, light leaking from it.   
  
Time froze as Sergio realized what he had done. Toriel wasn't here to free him with fire magic. Undyne wasn't here to attack Asriel with a spear. All of that was  _his_ doing. Through some unfathomable circumstances,  _he_ summoned magic in order to defend himself.  
He didn't know how any of this was possible, but he would use every advantage to turn the tide of battle.  
  
The fire dissipated from the human's body as he threw another spear at Asriel. The monster had gotten over his shock and swatted the spear away with his bare hands, sending another barrage of magic. Sergio summoned two spears, holding them this time, and blocked the beams coming at him from the side, his arms moving autonomously to high and low attacks. When it was clear, Sergio grunted as he chucked his weapons at Asriel again. The monster floated up to avoid contact, the first spear vanishing from his chest.  
  
"It ain't ova yet, pimpin'!" Sergio declared, balling his hands into fists.  
  
"It would appear so. Now the fun truly begins." Asriel produced his devilish smile as he cast a more intense wave of attacks. Images of Papyrus and Sans flashed into Sergio's mind. The human waved his hands backward, summoning a wall of bones on his left and right sides, blocking the volley. He stuck an arm forward, feeling heat generate from his elbow to his hand. A stream of fire shot out from his fist, spiraling towards Asriel. The monster's hands were ablaze before he caught the attack, quenching the flames as quickly as they were lit.   
  
Asriel brought a clawed hand up, summoning more large stars. Sergio briefly remembered the second time Flowey had surrounded him with pellets, and a ring of fire had protected him from certain death. He swept his arms around himself, a circular wall of fire dissolving the smaller stars that were closest to him. Sergio envisioned Alphys's face, recalling her skill with technology. His skin felt staticky again, his arm hairs standing on end inside his jacket. He closed his index and middle fingers and jabbed at Asriel's direction twice, bolts of electricity curving toward the monster. One bolt hit the monster's shoulder, the other on his side, causing more bright fractures where they hit.   
  
Sergio was doing it. He was starting to take the fight back to the monster prince! Just the feeling of continued hope at a time where hope seemed irrational had boosted his morale to an exceeding degree. This sudden connection to his friends had also given him another purpose to fight against Asriel; his friends, wherever they were, were counting on him to succeed.   
  
"The battle is not won yet, Tobias!" Asriel called, his voice sounding a bit strained. The damage Sergio did was certainly having an effect on him.  
  
"I'mma change that right now!" Sergio ran straight toward Asriel, building bone walls around him to shake off the beams the monster kept casting at him. Heat generated in his ankles, and with a burst of flames he leapt up a few feet just before meeting in the middle with Asriel. While airborne, Sergio summoned two spears, one in each hand. He was about to bring the spears down on Asriel's soulless eyes, which were looking up at  _him_ for a change. The monster summoned his swords to deflect the spear attack, knocking Sergio up on account of the human's grip on the spears. Before Sergio could summon more spears, a tall wall of fire formulated around Asriel, hammering the human and engulfing him in flames temporarily. Sergio fell back toward the ground, blocking two sword swipes in his descent. When he landed, he rolled out of the way as Asriel dug a sword into the ground.  
  
Now that Sergio was in full control of his power, Asriel's attacks didn't hurt nearly as much as they did beforehand. What should have been a scalding scar to his soul was nothing more than a stinging sensation on his torso. Other than that, he felt great. He couldn't say the same about Asriel, though, who looked as though he was being weakened more from his wounds every second. Of course, the monster wouldn't say anything to encourage the human.   
  
Sergio heard a low whirr coming from in front of him. Asriel's fists were alight, indicating another attack. The human crossed an arm over his chest as soon as the attack came, a thick wall of bones protecting him from a short burst of energy. When Asriel saw that the attack wasn't effective, he came at Sergio with the same move three more times, the bone wall's integrity deteriorating by the second. Asriel growled and charged up his attack a little more, while Sergio still hid behind the wall. He cast a fireball around the wall in one direction, then jumped out and summoned electricity from the other. The distraction tactic worked, and Sergio kept pumping lightning into Asriel, Palpatine style. The human heard a cracking noise from the monster, seeing more bright fractures across Asriel's body. A primal roar escaped the monster's chest as he closed his hands on the point of impact, sending the shock back to sender. The change in force sent Sergio flying backward onto his back, but he rolled backwards and jumped back onto his feet.  
  
He looked at Asriel's circular chest plate, which looked about as fractured as broken glass. He became more confident that the plate was the monster's weak point, since Asriel's attacks became less intense. The monster's smile had vanished now, his countenance now showing desperation.   
  
"Don't you know what you're doing? You are damaging the souls inside!" Asriel admonished, his hands on the vulnerable chest plate.   
  
"And why should I believe that, afta yo' 'friendliness pellets' bull crap? You jest afraid a' catchin' an L!"  
  
"Your rashness will lead to the deaths of everyone you've loved down here. Have you thought of that, Tobias?"  
  
Asriel's words had planted seeds of doubt in Sergio's mind, but the human quickly disregarded his indecision. Tapping his fist into an open hand, he said, "Yo' tricks ain't gon work on me this time! Now quit lyin' and collect this tail-whoopin'!"  
  
Sergio heard the familiar whirr coming from Asriel's hands and closed up his arms, forming a shield of bones, spears, and fire against the attack. Unlike last time, the attack was continuous instead of in a short burst, forcing Sergio to maintain the shield. In his body, he felt the shield getting weaker. He continued forming more bones and spears as the attack went on.  
  
"I will not let you sully my plan!" Asriel declared. "YOU SHALL FALL!"  
  
The severity of the attack was more strenuous than before, and all this magical summoning was starting to fatigue Sergio. If he focused on attacking, he would have left himself open to attack. No, he just needed to hold out until the attack ceased in some way....  
  
The whirring increased in pitch and brightness, taking more effort to defend against now.   
  
"CEASE AND DESIST, TOBIAS!" It was sounding more like a plea than a command.  _You first, sucka!_  The whirring got louder once again, Sergio now waving his arms in a frantic pace to protect himself. Sweat ran down his temple as he pushed his body to the limit. "THE WORLD DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!"  
  
Sooner or later, the shield was going to fail, and Sergio would be cooked. Pure defense was not the most effective option. He closed his eyes, imagining where Asriel was prior to the attack. If the monster was smart, he would have moved around in case Sergio tried to use some trickery to win the battle. The human was using all of his energy on the shield. But what if he shifted his energetic prioritization and used half of his remaining energy for an attack?  
  
It was worth a shot.   
  
Gritting his teeth, Sergio caused part of the shield to disappear, the spears and bones left quickly disintegrating. Now that he was going through with this, he knew he only had one chance to pull this off. The bones, spears, and fire that he caused to disappear were then summoned from the ground and forced upward. Based on the pained grunt coming from beyond the shield, Sergio inferred that the attack made impact. The wave of magic had ceased. In one brisk, fluid motion, Sergio raised the contents of the shield from the ground and summoned more magical weapons, then cast them all towards Asriel in a continuous bombardment.  
  
The monster's wings wrapped around his whole body to blockade Sergio's attack, but even the human could feel that his magic was doing some major damage to Asriel. Sergio kept up the attacks, putting everything he had in the attempt, projecting a war cry. More glasslike fractures appeared on the outside of the wings, but none of the attacks were going through them. He just needed one spear, one bone to penetrate Asriel's defenses....  
  
The attack was putting Sergio through pain now, despite the fact that the human was the one attacking.  _Gotta...keep...goin'...._  
  
Finally, after a few more seconds of Sergio's attack, one group of spears seemed to shatter Asriel's wings, bright holes in the appendages. The monster let out a deafening hiss in response to the injury. With the last of his energy, Sergio formed two more spears in his hands, hurling them both straight at Asriel's chest plate. The spears connected, causing two large fractures in the plate that fit in with the rest. Sergio then fell to his hands and knees, completely worn out from the sheer magnitude of the spell he cast.  
  
Though the impact definitely seemed like a critical blow, Asriel hardly staggered from the hits. Rather, he just stopped, looking down at his fragmented chest plate. More cracks formed from where the spears hit him, spreading across Asriel's entire body. The monster could have sent another attack in another act of defiance, but even he seemed to know it was too late.   
  
Asriel then looked at Sergio, possessing a somewhat surprised, yet joyful expression. He smiled at the human. In a voice completely different from his own, he said, "You have done well...Sergio."  
  
This change of pace should have been alarming to the human, but he only let out a shallow laugh. "See you in hell, flowa boy."  
  
A large burst of light exploded from Asriel's chest, bathing Sergio in a blinding illumination. A thunderous  _CRACK_ sounded throughout the room, presumably the sound of the monster's body breaking under the pressure of the souls inside it. After light came darkness, as Sergio felt his head fall to the ground. He lost consciousness as an important thought came to mind.  
  
He had won.

## .     .     .

  
 _"Sergio, wake up! This is all just a bad dream! Please, wake up!"_  
  
His eyes slowly opened, feeling woozy from events as of late. He lay supine on the hard, stony ground, which explained the slight pain he felt on his back. He moved his torso forward to sit up, holding his head in his dazed state.  
  
"Oh! You are awake! Thank goodness!'  
  
Sergio turned his head toward Toriel after she spoke. He tried to stand up, but he had a temporary lack of balance, falling to his side. He felt bony hands catching his shoulder, hearing Sans say, "Whoa, there, bud, take it easy." With the skeleton's help, Sergio was on his two feet again.   
  
"W-we were so worried! It felt like you were out forever!" said Alphys with a relieved countenance.   
  
"Yeah! Any longer and I would have freaked out! Tell us next time you decide to take a nap, okay?!" Undyne exclaimed, her voice a mixture of worry and frustration.   
  
"Yeah, you made Papyrus cry like a baby," Sans told him, stifling a laugh.  
  
"What?! I didn't cry! I don't cry!" Papyrus staunchly denied, his brows furrowing. "I just...caught something in my eye."  
  
"What did you catch?" the other skeleton pressed.  
  
Papyrus sniffled a bit, a tear flowing from his eye. "Tears!"  
  
"Now, now. The important part is that Sergio is all right," Asgore assured. He was holding a teacup on top of a plate. "Here, Sergio. Why not drink some tea? It'll make you feel better."  
  
Sergio eyed the cup, then frowned at Asgore. "I wouldn't trust that tea as far as I could throw it. As far as I know, you still tryna catch anotha human soul."  
  
"What?" was a few monsters' reply. All of them looked confused, then realized...something.  
  
"That's right, nobody told you...." Toriel cleared her throat. "Sergio, the barrier is broken."  
  
He turned to the former queen. "You serious?"  
  
"Yeah! It happened after that one flower guy came in. But none of us really remembered what happened next...." Undyne clarified.  
  
"The next thing we know, we all suddenly woke up and found you here, sleeping for some reason. We waited so long for you to wake up...it was kinda getting uncomfortable, to be honest," said Sans.  
  
Sergio thought for a moment. So, it was true. He defeated Flowey, or Asriel, or whatever else he was called. Not only did he free the monster souls (at least the souls he cared about, anyway), but he managed to break the barrier to boot. And Sergio was still alive during all of this!   
  
 _Ay, that's pretty good._  
  
He looked at all of his friends smiling at him. They weren't there for the struggle (for an understandable reason), but they saw the end results of his work. It was never his plan to free an entire forgotten civilization, but it didn't affect  _him_ negatively.  
  
But what would this mean for the future of Earth's surface, and human civilization? If the underground had mixed reactions to a human falling down, how would the humans react to seeing creatures such as walking skeletons, talking goats, angry fish, and stammering reptiles?   
  
It was because of his friends that he was able to survive up to this point, all of them. He was a little iffy about labeling Toriel and Asgore as friends before the Asriel fight, but whatever beef he may have had with them was water under the Brooklyn Bridge. A look of understanding passed between him and Toriel, then with Asgore.  
  
... _Aw, naw._ Sergio realized just how bad it was that the two boss monsters' son was the one whose soul was within Flowey, who then transformed. It seemed as if nobody knew what had happened after Flowey absorbed the souls, which was probably for the best. Asgore's hatred of humans all started with his son's death, after all.  
  
For everyone's sake, he would withhold that little detail for now.  
  
"Why the long face, Sergio?" Alphys asked, regarding the human's solemn expression.  
  
"He must have had the nightmare to end all nightmares," Sans suggested.  
  
Sergio turned toward the skeleton. "What I saw, and what I been through, that wasn't no dream."  
  
"We saw you sleeping here," Papyrus pointed out. "Don't you remember waking up?"  
  
"Well, what do  _you_ remember since seeing that flower?" Toriel inquired.  
  
The human took a deep breath before speaking, the monsters listening intently. "Afta the flowa absorbed y'all souls, it transformed inta...somethin' stronga. That...thang tried ta kill me. It was freakin' relentless. Whateva it was, it came way too close ta reapin' me. But somethin' strange happened. I felt somethin' inside me...I remembered Undyne, and then...one of 'er spears formed in my hand." Sergio paused for emphasis. "I was summonin' magic like you guys can."  
  
A few confused murmurs broke the pregnant silence. After a bit, Asgore broke in, "You're sure that this wasn't a dream?"  
  
Sergio gave the king a serious look. "I know for a fact that it wasn't. I only came that close ta dyin' once before, and that was the first time I came down here, when the flowa first attacked me. Toriel was there," he pointed to the former queen, who nodded in confirmation.   
  
"If it wasn't a dream, then, can you still use magic?" Alphys queried.   
  
"Heh, ain't  _that_ the million-dolla question...." Sergio held out a hand, curving his fingers like claws. He thought of the essence that Toriel had, and the rage he held within himself when fighting her son.  
  
Heat generated from his wrist to his fingertips. Shortly after, a small flame erupted just above his palm. Every monster in the room gasped at this sight.  
  
"No way!"   
  
"How?"  
  
"Impossible!"  
  
Sergio closed his hand, extinguishing the flame. He knew in his heart that the Asriel fight was real, but him being able to spellcast still seemed unbelievable to an extent. Now, there was no room for doubt. He summoned the flame from an arcane knowledge he had within him.   
  
He looked around at his comrades. "Barria's broken, everybody's free, and ya local hood rat can summon magic." He chuckled. "There goes the undaground."

## .     .     .

  
Instead of launching a mass exodus to the surface posthaste, the underground dwellers held a gala event to celebrate the breaking of the barrier. Every monster was invited to the Capital to engage in festivities that most everybody enjoyed: booming music, dances, speeches about what monsters would do on the surface, you name it.   
  
If Sergio was worried that monsters wouldn't know the human responsible for all of this, he could have put his qualms to rest. The human could hardly take five steps without a monster greeting him, wanting to shake his hand (if the monster had hands). All of them acted as if they knew him, even stating his name. Somebody had even created a shrine of Sergio in MTT Resort (and made him look a lot shorter than he actually was).   
  
All this attention he was getting was almost unprecedented, even nauseating to some extent, but Sergio would have taken this sort of attention over being involved with Mettaton's show any day of the week. Speaking of whom, the robot even tried to strike up a conversation with him while a party was going down in the Capital palace.  
  
Keyword being "tried."  
  
"There you are, Sergio-darling." The fruity, robotic voice gave the human a jolt.  
  
"I was actually startin' ta enjoy myself till you showed up. Whatchu want?" The vitriol in his voice could corrode metal.  
  
Mettaton did a dramatic pose as the disco ball lights shone down on the two of them. "Feast your eyes! Dr. Alphys completed my wonderful new body!"  
  
"I can see that. And if you make me a guest on yo' show again, I'mma wreck it just like I did the otha one."  
  
"Why so antagonistic, darling? Haven't you heard the news? The barrier's open!"  
  
"That don't change the fact that you still a punk. Now stay away from me 'fore I change my mind 'bout workin' you again on this dance floor."  
  
Seeing everybody joyously celebrate their freedom should have made him feel better about taking down some monster god of death. It did, to some degree, added to the fact that he was free to see Harlem once more. However, his optimism was quickly overshadowed by twinges of resentment that were difficult to explain. These monsters had been waiting to see the surface forever, some probably thinking that they wouldn't live to see the day the barrier broke. Sergio had only been away from the surface from a day, two days tops. He wasn't sure he could say that he missed the surface as much as these guys.   
  
No, his sullenness had to be because of more than that. He confirmed in his mind that he wanted to leave the party when he saw his small circle of friends. Undyne and Alphys were hitting it off by themselves, and Sergio had never played third wheel; he wasn't going to start then. Being in the same room with both Toriel and Asgore was awkward in itself, but they were never within ten feet of each other. Instead, Sans was laying the mack down with Toriel, and Papyrus was playing party games, entertaining himself and others who were around to watch. He knew now that he resented the fact that his friends had families, significant others with whom to go to the surface. Freedom was great, but he still knew that nobody- _nobody_ -was waiting for his return, not even his mom.  _Especially_ not his mom. As soon as he came back, he wouldn't have made any human's day better.  
  
Perhaps that was something to change once he reemerged from the underground.  
  
Asgore just stood in the front of the palace, as if ascertaining that nobody broke anything in his home. Since the king was the only one not accompanied by someone else, Sergio thought to go over to him. He cut through the crowd of monsters and walked to the king.  
  
Asgore gave a cordial grin to the human, the first Sergio'd seen from him since the opening ceremonies. Something had to be bugging Asgore, just as something was eating Sergio. Maybe they could help each other out.  
  
"Howdy, Sergio," he said in his deep voice.   
  
Okay, he was still friendly enough. "Wusgood?"  
  
A pause. Asgore seemed to be thinking about something. "I believe we got off on the wrong foot the first time we'd met...for sound reasons, of course."  
  
"Ay, don't worry 'bout it." And he meant it. He changed the subject. "Surprised you ain't ship outta here first thang."  
  
"That would be suicide." Asgore took a sip from his teacup. "I want to see the surface like everyone else, but I know of the dangers held inside it. I've never seen the surface, but the stories my forefathers told made me sure to tread lightly if I would ever see the sunlight again. I've made mistakes before, but I'm not completely ignorant. While this opportunity is important for us, I don't want to jump in thinking that the surface is a completely safe place."  
  
"Well, you ain't exactly wrong." Sergio traced the scar on his forehead with his thumb. "So, whatcha gon' do so that everybody's safe when y'all go up?"  
  
"I assume that humans still have a government system, correct?" Sergio nodded. "I may have to find a way to contact the relevant government officials to at least announce that the humans aren't the only ones trying to survive on the surface. If nothing else, I'll try to get the OK for us to live above ground."  
  
"Where will y'all live?"  
  
"History shows that humans and monsters used to live together, but I'm afraid that'd be too much of a culture shock for them. Although, I'm sure nobody would mind living in uninhabited forest areas or highly rural territories."  
  
"So, how you gon' contact the government?"  
  
"I'll establish a diplomatic panel, only sending a few monsters at a time instead of the entire underground. Which reminds me...." Asgore faced Sergio. "I would like for you to be our human ambassador."  
  
"Ambassada? What's that?"  
  
"It's where you act as a representative for us. We can make strong, convincing cases in our own right, but having the perspective of a human who fell here just might turn the tide of debates."  
  
It was true. Sergio could have been used as a weapon to help get what the monsters wanted. However, did he feel like being used again?  
  
Plus, he'd have to wear a suit. It was a no-go.  
  
"I ain't sure I'm the best candidate fa politics, regardless a' what side I'm on. 'Sides, though everybody here's actin' like my best friend, I don't think I'm comftable wit reppin' a group that more or less wanted me dead 'fore the flowa incident."  
  
Asgore let out a quiet breath, closing his eyes. "I can respect that decision."  
  
Just because he didn't want to be an ambassador didn't mean he didn't care about what happened to the monsters, however. He could have found other ways to help the monsters' cause. "When you plannin' ta move outta the undaground?"  
  
"I suspect...by the time this story's sequel is released. Until then, we'll get our arrangements set in order....This is a time full of opportunity and intrigue. And it couldn't have been done without you."  
  
Sergio rolled his eyes. "Please, I done heard enough stuff like that fa one night."  
  
Asgore chuckled, sipping his tea once more. "Pray tell, Sergio, what  _is_ the surface like?"  
  
It was quite a broad subject to talk about. "Well, what about the surface do you wanna know?"  
  
"Their government, for one thing."  
  
Classic, politically-minded Asgore. "I don't know much about it, but I  _can_ tell ya some thangs. See, where I live, we don't have kings. Our government uses a thang called democracy...."

## .     .     .

 **The story is not over.  
  
** _"Who you takin' me to, Sans?"_  
  
 _"I dunno; he didn't give me a name. He said he knows you, though."  
  
_ **With the surface now accessible, your local hood rat meets new allies, and reunites with old acquaintances.**  
  
 _"If you was smart, you wouldn'ta showed ya face again, partna!"_  
  
 **Old lives clash with new ones.**  
  
 _"Whatchu expect me ta do wit that mask?"  
  
"To conceal tu identidad, of course! I didn't think being missing would cause you to forget!"  
  
"I ain't sure I want this anymore, dog. I cain't control everythang bad that happened in my life, but I _can  _control this."_  
  
 _"The underground has changed you. Where is the Ser-hyoh who didn't care how he got dinero? Where is he?"_  
  
 **A new battle takes place in the political battlefield between humans and monsters.**  
  
 _"You're moseying back into the crown now? On what grounds?"_  
  
 _"On the grounds that our kingdom shouldn't be solely ruled by a hawk."_  
  
 _"Is that the only reason, Toriel? Or is it a last-ditch effort to regain the glory you've lost?_  
  
 **Tempers flare, and it's only a matter of time before one side erupts.**  
  
 _"I'm not letting my children go to a school inhabited by a bunch of godforsaken abominations!"_  
  
 _"The humans have their own problems. We'll take care of our own."_  
  
 **A mysterious new enemy rises from the ashes.**  
  
 _"They've got an obsession with you."_  
  
 _"Yeah, but it's hard ta tell where they gon' strike next. Who are they, and what side they on?"_  
  
 **The story continues in the next installment of the SergioTale saga, _New York State of Mind!_**


End file.
